Kamen Rider Kabuto: Earth Z
by will.i.am.skake.sphere
Summary: After the "slightly altered" events of the main series, the riders, and the world face a new threat greater than the Worm that will radically change the world we know of. In terms of a new and greater threat, it's a zombie apocalypse. Toei and Shotaro Ishinomori own Kamen Rider and all its other related stuff. I own only my original characters and such.
1. Chapter 1: The New Threat

**A/N:**

**First off I'd like to clarify that this is not a crossover. After failing to change it numerous times I'm just giving up and telling you guys here, otherwise I'd be deleting this story and re-posting it up again for that matter. Just because that there is a "Bruce Wayne" in the story and a main rider that is based off a bat, doesn't mean he is Batman. **

**Thanks for your time, and enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Prologue**:

Negishi had nowhere to run. He was surrounded by ZECTroopers and the Masked Riders Kabuto and Gatack. Negishi felt betrayed, he had admired Kabuto and Gatack had promised to help with their plan. Negishi started beating up the ZECTroopers and soon turned into his native form, attempting to attack the dazed riders, who had just defeated the Gryllus Worm.

"KABUTO!" Negishi yelled. Just then, Dark Kabuto ran out of nowhere, destroying the worm with a rider kick. The riders had won the war against the worms.

The riders slowly took off their respective Zecters, and releasing them. They fell to the ground, exhausted from the battle.

Kagami, still wounded from his first bout with Gryllus Worm said "We did it."

"Yeah," Kusakabe said, weakened from his massive energy drain.

I'll only tell you this once, walking the same path…is merely a test of perseverance. But reaching paths together is…"

Tendou was cut off by Kagami. "…friend, are those words from your grandmother?"

"No," Tendou said, "they're my own words."

"Good choice of words," Kusakabe said.

"What are you going to now Kusakabe?" Kagami asked.

"I don't know…" the native said.

"I suggest a new identity, there can't be two Tendou Soujis," Tendou said, half- jokingly.

"You're right," Kusakabe said, "See you around."

"Wait, where are you going? Kagami asked. Kusakabe turned around as he stood up.

"Exploring, I want to see more of the world, see what I missed all this time I was locked up," he said.

"Good choice…I guess. Good luck, friend," Tendou said. Kusakabe nodded, and Kagami and Tendou watched him go…

"It's over, it's finally over," Kagami said. Tendou nodded.

"Kagami!" "Shishou!" Misaki and Renge called as Tadakoro followed them. They soon began their reunion.

Months later…

Tendou is in Paris, months later. A chubby man, a famous scientist named Oswald Boker, asked, "Are you the famous Tendou Souji?"

Tendou replied, by saying "Walking the path of Heaven, the man who will rule everything." After they both walk away, Boker says to himself, "He's one of them."

* * *

**About 3 months after the events of the series…**

"The world has been in much tragedy. The alien worm species have existed on our world, for a very long time. It is thanks to the technology of the Zecters, that we were able to finally destroy every last one of them. There are many of our soldiers that have been lost, killed, and defeated in the long war, but we will all remember the dead. There are also the masked riders, who have valiantly devoted their lives into exterminating the worm, but some deserve honorable mention. We congratulate ZECT second-in-command, Arata Kagami, Masked Rider Gatack, my son, for his valiant efforts in defeating the worm," Riku Kagami, now the commander of ZECT again announces. Kagami quit his recent job as a policeman, and was now devoted to making the world at peace. Over the years, much had to be done. Many ZECT facilities have been closed and demolished, but many other Zecters were created. Many riders were soon created, with ZECT having a Masked Rider army.

"I would also like to congratulate Tsurugi Kamishiro, CEO of Discabil Corp., also known as Masked Rider Sasword, for his valiant efforts in battling the worm and also helping fund for many of our projects." Tsurugi was killed by a powerful worm, but was revived through one of ZECT's early prototype projects, when the Sasword Zecter had Tsurugi's DNA. He was the only subject to be revived, as the machine broke down from a severe power overload. He was reunited with Misaki and they have been engaged a year before.

"I shall congratulate Daisuke Kazama, make-up artist, also Masked Rider Drake, for his efforts in fighting the worm, even facing a situation where a worm had mimicked him, where he valiantly stood up for himself against the other riders. He took excellent care of Yuriko Takiyama, a former amnesiac, where I think extra applause should be fine." Kazama retained his job, but barely touched the Drake Grip. He often visited 'Gon' but was very busy after the Gryllus Worm incident.

"One person we should really be thanking…is Tendou Souji, Masked Rider Kabuto, the first one. He has seen things we haven't, and was a huge help in defeating the worm. What I describe of him cannot be put in words, nor is he here today. But ZECT still thanks him, he has endured through many hardships and distrust from ZECT but is now a valuable ally." Riku had finished his speech soon enough and stepped down from the podium. The audience soon broke away and went their separate ways.

"I heard Tendou was in Paris on some cooking trip," Misaki said to Tsurugi.

"He's been there for a long time now, and I sure he's still there. Let's just hope he isn't that arrogant towards other cooks," Tsurugi replied.

Kagami came over and laughed. "Tendou hasn't changed a bit, but I heard he was in Montreal then Sydney, now I don't know where."

"Traveling I see, he always wanted to see more. After all, he's the one that walks the path of heaven," Daisuke Kazama jokingly said. All of them chuckled.

"The good thing is that now there are more riders, the workers at Area Z have been busier than ever. There seemed to be a rider of every kind of animal!" Kagami exclaimed.

"And I thought it was only just insects too," Daisuke said. Just then, Kagami got a phone call.

"Hello there? Oh, I'll be there right away," Kagami said. For the first time in months, he seemed shocked.

"What is it?" Tsurugi asked.

"A space rock just hit outside New Dock City, scientists think it's a worm," Kagami said.

"Was the rock a big one?" Misaki asked.

"No, it's pretty small, they said, but it's still dangerous. I'll catch with you all later," Kagami said, then ran off into his motorcycle.

Kagami soon landed at Dock Airport, where he was driven to a secret laboratory. A Masked Rider soon approached him.

"Mr. Kagami. I'm Masked Rider Legart. I'll direct you to the laboratory. Once you approach, please wear a gas mask," the masked rider said.

"Thank you, but why the gas masks?" Kagami asked.

"The scientists say the worm is different from most, you should ask them for more information," Legart said.

As Legart led Kagami into a large facility, a scientist greeted him.

"Kagami Arata, I am Oswald Boker." he said.

"Ah, aren't you that famous biologist everyone has been hearing about?" Kagami asked.

"Yes, and I ran into Tendou in Paris, you two were a dream team, ha-ha," Boker said.

"Well what's the problem with the worm?" Kagami asked.

Boker led Kagami into a room, where several scientists were examining the worm. When Kagami saw the worm, he told one of the scientists something, and then went back to Boker.

"It's already dead?" Kagami asked.

"It died via impact on the surface. As far as we concluded, it is unlike any worm ZECT has faced, it is different from the rest. It's not even a native. So far we've concluded it's a different type of worm all together. It's not like the ones you guys fought," Boker explained.

"It doesn't look like a worm much either," Legart said.

"Worms can look like anything, but they're all hideous as hell," Boker remarked.

"We need to dispose of the worm body, it could be dangerous," Kagami decided.

"Further investigation is required first, we may find something extraordinary," a scientist said. Kagami felt reluctant, but he was sent a text message.

"Please meet at the San Francisco ZECT facility as soon as possible, you have been chosen an ordered to lead ZECT's first space mission."

While Kagami headed to the SF ZECT facility, the scientists at the science laboratory started to feel weird a few hours after.

* * *

**A few hours later...**

"The alien worm is affecting the scientists somehow," Boker said to Legart, but Boker was soon aware that Legart was affected too. Two scientists from the ZECT facility came outside with Boker.

"What's the story?" a scientist asked.

"The alien worm's infecting the scientists inside," Boker said.

"But how?" the other scientist asked.

"I think the worm had an effect on the scientists and Masked Rider Legart from contact," Boker concluded.

"We need to dispose of the worm immediately, I'm sure nobody wants another plague going around," the first scientist said. Boker nodded. After an hour, the worm was dipped in a giant tub of lava, but it seemed that even with the worm gone, the scientists and Legart remained damaged.

Meanwhile, in the SF ZECT facility…

Kagami arrived at the facility, and he was told to go into rider form for the time being. ZECT's new space commander, Jinguji Maki, walked over to the ten riders.

"This is ZECT's very first space mission. We will explore the planet Mars, on foot, for aliens," Maki said. Some of the riders had reluctant faces.

"With all due respect sir, why are we going to Mars when the other countries have already sent out rovers and shit years ago?" a rider asked.

Maki cleared his throat, "The cameras of the rovers were not clear enough to find any species. Many of the samples the rovers had taken back had no trace of alien anything. But recently, one of our rovers, the Éclair, has after much examination, been confirmed to have found an alien artifact."

"That's where we come in," Kagami said, understanding most of the situation.

"Yes, this is why we need riders to go explore Mars for extraterrestrial life. Use force if necessary," Maki said.

"YES SIR!" shouted the riders in unison. Maki led them into a walkway to the ship _Vorpal_, where they all buckled up, readied the engines, checked all the weapon systems, and were soon ready to take off.

"Alpha system, checked!" a rider said.

"Beta system, checked. Ready for takeoff," another rider said.

"Alright, let's get ready to go," Kagami said, at the pilot's seat. The boosters soon fired to life, and the riders onboard prepared for a long mission.

"**5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Blast Off! The Vorpal has taken off, I repeat, the Vorpal has taken off,"** Maki said. Mission Control cheered out loud.

"Alright guys, let's roll," Kagami said. Within minutes, the Vorpal escaped out of Earth's atmosphere and into the depths of space…

* * *

**8 hours later…**

While working on their other current experiment, the lab workers started to scream in agony and clutch their faces. One started to repeatedly hit his head on the floor. The masked rider, Legart, was not spared as well. The Centipede Zecter started to react violently, sending electrical surges to the rider.

"I'm seeing a whole bunch of shit! Ahh!" one infected scientist yelled.

Boker and three other scientists opened the door.

"What's happening?" he stammered.

"Dr. Boker! The worm must've infected them with a disease," one of the scientists said.

"My fucking god, they're going insane," another one said.

The infected workers kept screaming, but one by one, all of them stopped squirming and shaking, their skin turned into a rotten color, and they fell dead with their eyes still open. Legart also fell down.

"Get the Zecter out of his belt!" Boker ordered.

The scientists tried, but the Zecter wouldn't budge.

"It's stuck in place, Dr. Boker," the third scientist said.

"Shit!" Boker said, throwing his clipboard down onto the ground. "I want every one of them in a water tank for examination right now; we need to know what happened to them."

The scientists proceeded to follow his orders, not knowing the catastrophic events that would eventually occur…

* * *

**Epilogue:**

"Dr. Boker, we need you to go to ZECT main headquarters to report everything that happened," Riku Kagami said on his phone.

"I can't right now! One of your riders have died along with half my scientists, you expect me to go over there!?" Boker yelled. Riku sighed.

"These orders come from the Japanese government, I am only a messenger," he said.

"Well fuck your government, I'm busy with all this shit," Boker said.

"Dr. Boker, we need you here, now. What you have encountered may trigger a zombie apocalypse; we need you to report your findings so that everyone can perhaps prepare for something coming. This is an order, over." Riku hung up the phone right after. He sighed.

"What'll be of the world now…"

**Chapter 1: End**

**Author's Notes**: As you may see, the prologue is based on the last episode of the main series, "Kamen Rider Kabuto". But events have been changed for a mere plot twist.

Oswald Boker is the man seen at the final moments of Kabuto's last episode.

I've gotten the zombie apocalypse idea after reading the whole "Marvel Zombies" graphic novel series.

The next chapter is scheduled to be released on November 29, 2013. Sorry that I have uploaded this chapter late! Enjoy!

For those who may wish to see what happens in the real series, go to this YouTube channel and start watching some KR Kabuto.

playlist?list=PLAW4Neqc7fOBp8YwL92iGcOjVmqBajCay

_**Toei and Shotaro Ishinomori own Kamen Rider. I own nothing except for my original characters.**_


	2. Chapter 2: Breakout

**Chapter 2 **

* * *

**Unknown Area**

"With the infected all confirmed for dead, many sources have simply said that the worm from outer space is the cause. The scientific research was left incomplete and abandoned as ZECT and the government did not want any casualties. Dr. Oswald Boker, leader of the project, was not able to find any specific reason of cause and-"the television was cut off. A man with sunglasses and robes on quietly got up and went to the kitchen. He quickly whipped up some dinner, ate the slight morsel, and then walked to another room. The well-built man then went to a cabinet, opened it, and pulled out a belt. It was a ZECTER belt, but the man just sighed and put it back in, then shut the cabinet door and walked out the door. He sighed.

"What's going on now…" he said quietly.

* * *

**Inside a weapons factory in Shibuya…**

"Hurry! Take that weapon and get out of there," a rider said to fellow henchmen. After the destruction of the worms and the release of many other Zecters, some riders defected to criminals, and formed mobs and gangs and cartels.

This particular rider was a rider called Percepine, his Zecter based on a porcupine. The rider's armor could shoot out spikes in all different directions, and he had a spike-saber as a weapon. His henchmen weren't riders, just men with gas masks and suits with Percepine's Zecter symbol on the back. They were armed with blade/machine guns, some stolen from local ZECT facilities, some which are made by the cartel itself. The cartel was one of the strongest in all of Japan, often gaining support from the other gangs. To ZECT, they were almost a threat.

Just then, a great wind knocked off the machine guns off the henchmen's' hands, then knocked out some of the henchmen.

"If it isn't another rider," Percepine said, unfazed by the other rider's entry. Percepine then felt a great wind coming to his direction, then pulled out his saber, intercepting the other rider's attack, but it made him stagger from the force behind it.

"_CLOCK OVER,"_ announced the rider's Zecter. It was based off a bat, which was on a unique Zecter belt, filled with gadgets instead of the standard Zecter belt. The rider himself looked something a lot like a certain superhero in the comic books.

"If it isn't Masked Rider Bat, I expected something to happen sooner or later, like a certain rider interrupting the mission," Percepine said, getting up.

"I'm going to put you in a cell, as well as interrupt your mission," Bat said in a dark voice. Percepine scoffed, and then readied his saber. Bat also got into a battle position.

Percepine let out a roar, then tried to jab Bat, who swiftly maneuvered his attack, then elbowed the villain's back, who stumbled into the wall.

"You're still weak, cartel leader, even with the Zecter's power," Bat remarked.

"I'll show you strong!" Percepine charged again.

Percepine aimed a punch at Bat, who blocked it, but in the process, Percepine managed to hit Bat with his saber. The fight continued with many punches and kicks, but none of the riders seemed to be getting anywhere.

Percepine got up with both riders kicked each other at the same time.

"I'm ending this fight and you!" Percepine shouted, and then he pulled at the Porcupine Zecter's tail, which sent jolts of electricity towards the rider's body. The spikes around Percepine's armor began to spin. "_RIDER BOMBARDMENT!"_ the Zecter announced.

Bat then tapped several buttons on his gauntlets, which then formed shock gloves over his fists. Bat tapped several other buttons, and then the Zecter announced "_RIDER SHOCK PUNCH!"_ Masses of electricity formed around the rider's arms.

"Die!" Percepine yelled. The spikes on his armor shot out. But Bat was ready, he proceeded to block all of the incoming spikes, and eventually punching the last two back at Percepine, who in shock was blasted into several of his own men.

"Get him!" Percepine commanded his henchmen, who then proceeded to rush at Bat. Bat punched one henchman in the face, and then roundhouse kicked another. Two of the men grabbed his arms, and two others rushed with knives in hand, but Batman kicked both with his free feet, then flipped the others off of him. Bat then got two bat-shaped boomerangs and threw them at some men. The boomerangs exploded at their feet, knocking them out. Bat then kicked another henchman approaching him, and did some fast punches to another one to the stomach. While the rest of the henchmen rushed at Bat, Bat got out a grapple gun, pulled one man towards him, and then Bat threw him across the other men, who went down. Bat was then knocked into the wall as Percepine recovered from his previous attack.

"You may take those men down, but nothing will defeat me," Percepine said, then rushed at Bat with his saber and pressed the Clock Up pad. _"CLOCK UP!" _

"Don't be so overconfident," Bat said, then pressed a button on his gauntlet. On the ground were several explosives Bat had planted during his entrance. The bombs detonated.

"Argh!" Percepine yelled as his clock up was interrupted and he was brought down to the ground. Bat kicked him in the face twice, causing him to roll across the room. Bat then pressed buttons on his gauntlet, then got out a special device. Bat pointed the device towards Percepine, and then pressed the button. _"RIDER EMP!"_ The device then made the Porcupine Zecter fall off of Percepine's belt, de-morphing the cartel leader. Bat put a pair of handcuffs on the criminal, then handed him over to ZECT authorities.

"He's all yours, the Spike Gang is done for," Bat said to a ZECT officer.

"Good job, Bat. You had a nice device over there," the officer said.

"It's a special EMP device to shut down a Zecter's systems, but it can only happen if the Zecter's energy levels are low. Since Percepine used up a lot of energy in the fight, I was able to shut down the Zecter, although it's only temporary. It's a one-of-a-kind," Bat said.

"Anyway, you're supposed to go to the main ZECT base, we'll take you there, Mr. Wayne," the officer said.

Bat took the Zecter off his belt, and then stepped into the car, which had sped off.

* * *

**Inside the ZECT facility…**

"You have heard of the infection, I suppose?" asked Riku Kagami.

"I have indeed, Mr. Kagami," Bruce Wayne said.

"Dr. Boker said the infected may turn into undead worms," Riku Kagami said. "I need you to head over to the facility in Los Angeles to defend the place in case of something happening."

"That's all…?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah. It is predictably, an easy job, but depending on the zombies' traits, anything could happen. Several ZECTroopers will be there as well. You're going to have to try deactivating the Centipede Zecter with the EMP device, if it doesn't work, then finish him off," Riku said.

"I understand," Bruce said, and then he walked away.

* * *

**Meanwhile in the Los Angeles ZECT facility…**

"Their vitals are at zero, for now," Boker said to the other scientists.

"How long are we gonna have to wait for those bitches to wake up," a scientist said.

"Patience, Phillip, be careful what you wish for," Boker sternly said. Just then a door opened.

"Master Wayne! It is good to see you, it's been a while," Boker said. "Everyone, meet Bruce Wayne, one of the world's greatest minds."

"Hahah, thanks a bunch old friend, just glad I can help," Bruce said.

"First time I met you was when you were just a rich playboy, now you're a masked rider, a responsible man, I suppose?" Boker asked.

"Ha, yes my friend," Bruce said.

"Mr. Wayne, do you compare yourself with um…Tendou Souji?" a scientist asked.

"Well, Tendou is a much more capable man than me, I just wished he was here…" Bruce said.

"It's not time to worry about Kabuto, let us focus on the main problem here," Boker said, and then he walked over to a large computer.

"I've recently discovered some interesting facts about the twelve deceased. So basically, right now they are not dead, they are merely in a stasis mode, eventually waking up in due time. We've brought out one body, tried to dispose of it. It appears the skin of the deceased ones have become more stronger, being immune to extreme conditions but the brain waves react violently when we try to burn it, meaning that the body may have a found weakness in fire," Boker explained.

"We've tried stabbing their hearts and all the necessary organs and body parts needed to survive. On most zombies in legends and such, a hit to the brain may result in instant death of the zombie. But however, the zombies are in stasis, which mean we can't kill them in the meantime, and we don't want to try anything else," another scientist said.

"This is odd, which makes it extremely hard to kill them," Bruce said. "Hang on, I need to try deactivating Legart's Zecter with the EMP device."

Bruce got his belt, attached it onto his waist, and then put the Bat Zecter on the slot. _"HENSHIN!"_ the Zecter started to flash and it formed the armor of Masked Rider Bat around Bruce Wayne. "Cast off," Bat said, and then he pushed the button on the Bat Zecter's "head", extending the wings of the Zecter. _"CAST OFF!"_ the masked armor flew off of Bat, almost hitting the scientist, the scattered pieces soon disappeared.

"Time to get it off him," Bat said, and then he pushed a few buttons on his gauntlet. The EMP device was taken out of his belt. Bat pointed it towards the dead rider and pressed the button. But nothing happened. Bat pressed it again but nothing happened, again.

"Goddamn it! Dr. Boker, can you lend me a laptop for a sec?" Bat asked.

Boker gave one to him, then started looking at the Centipede Zecter's systems and vitals. "It's… the Zecter is at extremely low power but I can't seem to shut it down. It usually shuts the Zecter down when it's low on energy," Bat said.

"Give me that for a second," Boker then pressed some buttons and more, soon the scientists, Bat, and Boker saw some charts.

"So, the first chart describes how much power the Zecter has been using. Even if the Zecters have an unlimited supply of energy, they still lose power through too much usage, making the Zecter have to recharge itself. Right now, the Zecter is operating on low power, but the Zypherio Crystals (small crystals of pure energy made to power the Zecters) that are powering the Zecter batteries are at full power, which may be why the device isn't working. In a nutshell, the Zecter has full power, but it is currently running on low power, using less of the Zecter's power through its use. The second chart describes the Zecter's battery power, the third describes the Zecter's power usage rate," Boker explained.

"That explains it…" Bat said.

"This does not happen…at all though…it only happens if the rider is stuck on his Rider form from a malfunction, but the program doesn't detect any malfunctions on the Zecter. It's like the worm's DNA caused the Zecter to go wacko," Boker said.

"So we can't get the fucking Zecter off Legart," Bat growled.

Just then, the zombies started to shake in unison, Legart's Zecter started to flash and send shocks of electricity in chaos. The zombies had been awakened.

"Get your flamethrowers ready!" Bat yelled. The scientists and Boker all stepped back.

"Boker! Get out of here, now!" Bat yelled to the pudgy scientist, who ran off with the others. The zombies' eyes came to life, and they smashed out of their water tanks. Legart did the same. Bat pushed the button on his Zecter, and his masked armor started to fly back onto him. _"PUT ON!"_ the Zecter announced. Legart and Bat began to have their battle.

At the same time, the ZECTroopers guarding the scientists started blasting their flamethrowers, forcing the zombies back in fear.

"Come on you bastards, get burnt!" a ZECTrooper grunted.

"Eat my fucking flames, shit-holes!" another yelled.

"Go back to hell!" a third yelled. A zombie soon rushed forward, and the ZECTroopers concentrated on him, and the zombie disintegrated into ashes. The other zombies surged forward, while some were forced back, the rest of the zombies charged at the ZECTroopers.

"Ahh!" one yelled as he was bitten, then he ran off.

"Wait! Stop! You're getting everyone killed you bastard!" a ZECTrooper yelled to the bitten trooper before being bitten himself.

"Burn me before I become one of those stupid shits," the trooper said, lying on the ground.

"But commander!" the others shouted.

"Do it!" the commander ordered before he was disintegrated into ashes. The troopers kept firing upon the zombies, trying to keep them at bay.

Meanwhile, Legart had bitten through his own mask and was trying to tear through Bat's armor, but Bat was very skilled and had dodged every attempt. "Time to bring you down for good," Bat said, then threw three Batarangs at the zombie rider, who clocked up and bit a chunk off of Bat's armor.

"Damn it!" Bat yelled. At least the zombie rider hadn't gotten through his skin. Legart soon clocked up out of the room, with Bat in pursuit. As Bat managed to go to the living room, he found the front doors already broken through and Legart running to a busy industrial area.

"Fuck!" Bat yelled, but the zombies were attacking the troops, and Bat couldn't let more zombies get out of the building. Bat ran back to the ZECTroopers. _"CLOCK UP!" _the Zecter announced as Bat got to the scene a second later, he blew up several of the zombies' heads with exploding Batarangs, but some of the ZECTroopers were already infected and clutching to their wounds. Bat heard a voice through his speaker.  
"Bruce, I've completed an analysis of the zombies. It seems in their current state of matter, they lose most of their personalities and knowledge, but their physical strength is dramatically increased and of course, the parts with the hunger for human flesh…" Boker said through a call.

"Goddamn, and Legart got away Boker," Bat sighed as he kicked a zombie in the head, knocking its brain out in the process.

"You let him get away? It'll infect all of Los Angeles!" Boker cried.

"There's another rider approaching Legart, I've already informed him of what's happening," Bat said.

"Let's just hope that rider knows what he's doing," Boker said.

"Of course the rider knows what he's doing, it's Drake," Bat said.

"DRAKE?" Boker said.

* * *

**SOMEWHERE IN LOS ANGELES**

**"**_RIDER SHOOTING," _announced the Drake Zecter as it powered up to fire a shot.

"Let's kill you, bitch," Drake said, then he fired. Drake yelled at the same time. The rider's head soon exploded.

"Bruce, it's done," Drake said. But Drake felt a sudden pain on his arm, he looked at it, and he found out, Legart had bitten him in the arm…

* * *

**ZECT FACILITY IN LOS ANGELES**

"Die you freaks," Bat said as he battled the zombies. There were two more, and he had brought the rest down. The remaining ZECTroopers suddenly rushed forward, burning the zombies into a crisp.

"Drake, it's contained here," Bruce said. But unbeknownst to him, two zombies managed to escape the fight…

"Bruce…I-I'm infected. Legart bit me…" Drake groaned.

"No, no, no!" Bat yelled, and then he kicked a table.

"No, it's okay Bruce. I've been expecting it…jut-just don't tell Yuriko and the others about it…-"the transmission was cut off. Bat was breathing hard,

"Come on troops, we have to go back to main base, immediately," Bat said. The troopers followed him as he went off into the night…

* * *

**Epilogue  
**Daisuke Kazama had written a letter, printed a portrait of him, and went towards the sea, letter and picture in one hand, Drake Grip in the other. He felt like he had already had done enough. He looked at the letter one more time, and then he put it down on the ground. He also put the Drake Grip on the ground on top of the letter, and finally, his hat.

"Sayonara…" he said, and then he dived into the river.

As Kazama jumped into the water, a man came towards where Kazama jumped. He picked up the letter, and then read it out loud.

_Dear friends, I can no longer continue life due to a tragic combat incident. I hope you all understand. I've met many good people in my life, and I wish to thank all of them for guiding me to the right path. If I have done anything to make you dislike me, I hope you all forgive me. Thanks for being supportive throughout my life. _

_ Sincerely,_

_ Kazama Daisuke_

The man then folded the letter, and picked up the Drake Grip. He also took the hat.

"You were indeed a good friend after all, Kazama," the man said.

The man walked away with the possessions, suddenly hearing frantic cries and zombie groans. He sighed.

"I'd better move out of this town…"

* * *

**Author's Notes**

**Masked Rider Bat is based off of Batman, as some should've noticed.**

**To the Drake fans, don't kill me please, it was a hard decision to make as the other riders have another role in the story.**

**The Bruce Wayne in this story is named after his DC counterpart.**


	3. Chapter 3: The Division

**Chapter 3**

"Shit!" shouted TheBee as zombies came from every direction. He kicked one away into the lake below, then punched two who tried to approach him. Shadow Troopers at his command were slowly backing up towards a dead end, trying to kill the undead. _"PUT ON!"_ announced the TheBee Zecter as the armor hit the approaching zombies and formed back on TheBee.

It was two weeks after the incident at the Los Angeles ZECT facility. TheBee was sent along with two other riders to assist Bat in trying to clean up Los Angeles before the outbreak went anywhere else. Clearly, the attempt was failing.

Elsewhere, Bat and the two other riders, Masked Rider Luchs and Masked Rider Leopardo were having their own battles. Bat ducked under a zombie's incoming 'karate chop' and threw a batarang at the zombie's head, exploding it into pieces, two more approached him, and he sprayed explosive gel from his gauntlets and detonated it, blowing the other two up. Luchs used his Rider Claws and slashed at two zombies' heads, then did a sweep at another, tripping it before Luchs jabbed at the zombie's head with a claw. Leopardo used his claws and jumped on a zombie's back, then ending its 'life' with a swipe at the head. Leopardo threw the corpse at several others, bringing them down as well.

TheBee remembered how those two became riders, they had been street thugs. Their names were Garfield Jones and Sylvester Lynns. TheBee had been the one to apprehend them when they tried to break into a house. Weeks later, TheBee was captured by a villainous rider, but it was Jones and Lynns that had broken him out, and the Bobcat and Leopard Zecters chose the duo. During the time, TheBee wasn't very experienced himself, as the last two owners of the Zecter had gone rogue and their whereabouts currently unknown. James Perez (TheBee) himself used to be a delinquent, until a rider had arrested him but decided to ship him to the ZECT academy, a place for training people to be ZECTroopers. Perez 'graduated' and became a trooper, soon rising to a captain, until one day the TheBee Zecter had chosen him, and his mentor decided to further train him.

But then, his training was cut short because he was sent to Los Angeles. He promised his mentor he would return in one piece, but now Perez was uncertain.

Back to the battle, Bat grunted as a zombie flew straight at him, making him stumble back into two zombies, who tried to chew threw his armor. Luchs finished stabbing one in the brain when he saw Bat being ambushed.

"Bruce!" Luchs cried as he jumped into the herd of zombies, then after freeing Bat from the zombies' grip, they both stood back to back as they fought the zombies. Bat used his grapple gun and as it hit a zombie's head, he swung the zombie towards a few others, sending them tumbling towards the ground. Luchs got out a ZECT Claw Gun (based on the designs of the Kunai Gun) and started to shoot at the zombies, finding the weapon much more efficient.

On the other side of the battlefield, Leopardo got his own Claw Gun out and shot a zombie's head at point-blank range. Leopardo also shoved his claw straight threw the neck of a zombie before twisting his hand upwards towards the skull. TheBee did a left cross on the head of a zombie, and then round-house kicked another. TheBee then got out a special device and attached it onto his leg. As he made a kicking motion, a strong laser bolt struck several zombies in the head, killing them instantly. Inside his mask, James grinned. The device was a Wave-Motion Leg Cannon, where when a kicking motion is made towards the opponent, a strong laser is sent out to decimate it.

"Hey Perez! Need…some help over here!" Leopardo shouted. TheBee cursed himself; more zombies had approached the other riders while the riders on TheBee's side of the battlefield had diminished.

_"RIDER CHARGE"_ announced the Leg Cannon as TheBee pressed a button on the cannon. Energy began to form around TheBee's right foot. TheBee pressed the button again. The energy on his foot began to refine itself until it shaped itself into a giant yellow ball of energy. The leg cannon announced _"RIDER WAVE"_

"Hi-yah!" TheBee shouted as he round-house kicked the energy ball. The energy ball started to form itself into a wave-like object made of pure energy.

"Get out of the kill zone!" TheBee shouted. The three other riders nodded and began to roll away. The wave hit the rest of the zombies and a very big explosion ensued with a lot of zombie guts flying everywhere.

Bat and the other two feline-based riders ran up to TheBee. At almost the same time, they took off their Zecters and the armor started to deform. As they went back to normal, James raised an eyebrow over the clothes they wore.

Sylvester Lynns was wearing a tuxedo with very dirty but recently polished shoes. Garfield Jones was wearing a tank-top with boxing gloves on the side of his pants, and Bruce Wayne was wearing a ZECT uniform. James himself was only wearing jeans with a ZECT T-shirt. He had found it surprising ZECT actually made T-shirts with the logo on the front.

Bruce then got out a phone, which was ringing. As the other three stood quietly around, Bruce then cursed.

"What's the story?" James asked.

"More zombies spotted throughout different locations in Los Angeles. I told Mr. Kagami to tell ZECT officials to quarantine the city in case of anything else," Bruce said.

"And how long will that take?" Sylvester asked.

"About a few days at least…" Bruce sighed.

"Zombies would escape easily…" Garfield replied agitatedly.

"That's only if they do it the complicated way. But they are setting up force-fields, even then, the delivery would take about a few hours," Bruce said.

"Zombies can still escape easily," Sylvester groaned.

"The zombies are at three separate locations, we can split up and approach them by Clock Up," Bruce said.

"That's actually a good idea," Sylvester said, and Garfield nodded.

"The worst part is…Mr. Kagami wants me back to escort the transport plane," Bruce said. "You guys have to deal with this on your own."

"We got it, don't we?" Garfield said.

Bruce nodded, then he light-sped away after transforming back into Bat. James then pulled out his phone after receiving a text.

"Hey guys, the three locations. Squads of zombies are at Hollywood. Another group is settling in on Griffith Observatory, apparently attacking humans. Wait a minute…there are even more groups at separate places, but ZECT's sending riders in," James said, and then sighed with relief. But Sylvester and Garfield's faces were filled with horror.

"Wouldn't that just make more riders vulnerable to zombie bites?" Sylvester asked.

"Then it's a trap," Garfield said.

"But we can't freakin' convince Mr. Kagami, we just gotta take down riders who are infected," Sylvester growled.

"Bruce just sent me the other locations…Olvera Street's being invaded, the Walt Disney Concert Hall's burning, some are lingering near the La Brea Tar Pits, and some are entering the Capitol Records Building…" James said before Garfield put a hand towards his mouth.

"Just. Stop," Sylvester growled.

"Okay, okay got it," James said.

"We gotta clock up over to those places," Garfield said. The other two nodded, then all three of them transformed, then clocked up away.

* * *

**Up in the air…**

"James, you gotta stop them," Bruce said. He was in a fighter jet, flying next to the large transport plane carrying two forcefield generators that would be activated in two separate places, the La Brea Tar Pits and Disneyland.

"You think I am not doing that? There's too many, where the hell is that transport plane!?" James asked while grunting.

"An hour away! You guys think you can last?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah sure, maybe with a tank, these guys really hit hard, they can somehow detect our  
Clock Up movements!" Garfield shouted.

"What the hell…" Bruce said.

"Good thing is Sasword's leading a squadron of riders across the other locations, but who knows if they'll last?" James asked.

"James…the reason for bringing the force field is…Mr. Kagami intends to nuke Los Angeles within the forcefield so the threat doesn't get to anywhere else…" Bruce said.

"So that's what it's all about…he's really going to fucking nuke Los Angeles?" James shouted. Bruce then hung up the phone, he had enough. He sighed, thinking about the possibility of something else happening after Los Angeles.

"What's the story down there?" a female voice asked. It was the pilot of the transport plane.

"I don't think you have clearance for that," Bruce said.

"It's just us both in the air, what's wrong?" the pilot asked.

Bruce then cleared his throat, "You mind telling me who you are exactly? I can tell you're not from ZECT."

"Oh, how'd you figure that out?" the pilot asked.

"I have my ways," Bruce said, smiling.

"Alex Walker, formerly Special Forces," the pilot said.

"I see," Bruce said.

"You got something wrong for once, I've heard of you, Bruce Wayne," Alex said, smiling.

"Everyone makes mistakes, Ms. Walker," Bruce said, smirking.

"Anyway, I just got into ZECT a month ago. Now they're telling me to transport a forcefield generator to the middle of Los Angeles without giving me details," Alex grumbled.

"ZECT does have a lot of new people, after the worm incident. I was one of the first new ones to join though," Bruce said.

"Hmmph, and you're even a rider," Alex scoffed.

"We're approaching Los Angeles, we better get ready. And stay behind me, there could be something you don't want to see," Bruce said, changing the subject as well as giving her a hint of what was coming.

"Gotcha," Alex said.

* * *

**La Brea Tar Pits**

Sasword backed up as a zombie brought a fist downward, then ducked under another's arm then sliced the two zombies' heads off.

"God, this just keeps getting better and better," he thought to himself as he brought his sword down on a zombie's head, splitting it into two. Two zombies then approached him from the side, but Sasword cut off the torso of one and kicked the other away.

The other riders at his command dispatched themselves all over Los Angeles. Sasword had just recently found out about the zombies' abilities. He forced himself to go back into Masked Form after the zombies almost chewed threw his armor. Before that, he was clocking up and beating the hell out of some unaware zombies until a few had stopped it, clearly being able to see his movements. Sasword found himself not used to fighting in this form, but it was something he would have to make do with if the zombies had to continue. But he knew soon that the transport plane carrying the forcefield generator would arrive.

A zombie then head-butted Sasword into a pool of tar, but he got up and stabbed the zombie's head. Sasword then put the Sasword Zecter's tail down and then reset it to its default position, and energy and venom started to circulate around the Sasword Yaiver. _"RIDER SLASH"_

Sasword let out a battle cry, then started slashing at the zombies, at which they all soon exploded.

"That was fun, let's do it again," Sasword said sarcastically. Soon, the transport plane had arrived and landed. Bat then hopped out of his fighter jet and nodded at Sasword.

"Where's the thing?" Sasword asked.

"It is right here, heh," Alex Walker said.

"You let a pilot go out on the battlefield? I thought the agreement was only drive and then fly back," Sasword asked with a surprised voice.

"You can't keep a good soldier down," Bat said, shrugging.

"Well, what happened here?" Alex asked.

"In a nutshell, zombies," Sasword said.

"Oh…so that's what it's all about…" Alex said.

"Come on, we gotta set the generator," Bat said. The three then ran to an area where there wasn't much tar, and soon set the generator on the ground. Bat then set the codes to activate it. The top of the generator, a satellite dish-like object started to glow. The screen on the generator started uploading energy contents.

"Um…guys?" Alex stammered.

"What?" Bat asked.

"I think some zombies are here!" Alex shouted, and then got out a gun. Bat sighed.

"Tsurugi, I think you better help her…" Bat grumbled.

"With pleasure," Sasword said, and then he got up and sliced a zombie's head off. As Alex and Sasword started killing the zombies, Bat saw a mass army of them approaching from the hills. Another small group started to "run" over from the other side.

"Shit," Bat said. Hoping that the generator would stay safe, Bat then got up and clocked up around the zombies, spraying some explosive gel in a circle. Bat then got an exploding batarang and threw it at the gel, exploding several zombies and stumbling several more. Bat got two more exploding batarangs and hurled them at the zombies. Bat then threw a small grenade-like object towards the other zombies, and soon after, several of them flew up in the air.

"Bruce!" Sasword grunted as he was kicked in the shin by a zombie. Alex screamed. Bat then growled and hurled himself into a zombie attacking Alex, Bat then started to beat up the zombies with his shock gloves. As a zombie had its hands on Alex, Bat came up from behind and ripped its head off, tossing it to the side.

"You hurt?" Bat asked Alex.

"No, they didn't get me," Alex said, breathing in short huffs.

"Watch the generator, I'm helping Sasword," Bat said.

"But the zombies over there!" Alex pointed at the hill. It turned out the batarangs hadn't lessened the crowd of zombies, and as Bat rushed back towards the generator, many of the zombies were closing in.

"Get your hands off that generator!" Bat yelled as he did a flying kick which knocked a zombie down. Alex reloaded and then went back towards Sasword, shooting one that was aiming to bite Sasword's arm. The fight went on, but too many zombies had arrived and soon they were trashing the generator, destroying it.

"No!" Bat yelled as he ripped a zombie head off. He rushed over to the generator, but it was already in ruins. TheBee, Luchs, and two other riders then appeared next to Bat.

"What are you guys doing? Help Sasword!" TheBee said to the other two riders, who then rushed over to help a struggling Sasword.

"Bat, what are we gonna do?" Luchs asked.

"The nuke plan is still going, but we have to improvise without the force fields. Most remaining humans here are already evacuated, with a high chance some of the damn civilians are infected, but we can't stop them all. It's better to eliminate most than none. Mr. Kagami will most likely launch a rider force to stop the stragglers," Bat explained.

"Is it best to keep to the plan?" Alex asked, coming over.

"It's our only option. Better having a hundred zombies than a thousand," Bat replied. Alex rolled her eyes in response, and Luches shifted uncomfortably. Just then, Sasword and his helpers rushed over.

"We took care of them, some others escaped," the first rider said.

"One almost bit me, those things are dangerous as hell!" the second exclaimed.

"It's good you're safe, but we have to notify Mr. Kagami. He'll know what to do," Bat said confidently.

Alex sighed, thinking to herself, _"Does he really think Mr. Kagami will know what to do?"_

* * *

**Main ZECT Base**

A large group of riders were walking to a giant auditorium. In the back, Riku Kagami and a well-built man in a ZECT uniform were lagging behind.

"We need to keep up, Mr. Kagami," he said.

"Excuse me for my age, Draco," Riku retorted, with Draco shrugging.

Draco Stark was a very strict, but compassionate ZECTrooper hand-picked by Riku Kagami himself, knowing 7 different martial arts styles and being an expert with most weapons, Riku Kagami decided to promote him to a rider general. He was the leader of an expert rider group. Over time, their skills in combat were near rivals to Gatack's.

"What's the plan?" Draco asked.

"I'll tell you all once we start," Riku simply said. They soon came into the auditorium, with Draco's Dragon Team and another general's group already seated. Riku Kagami got onto the podium, with Draco standing next to him.

"Riders, just recently a worm had crashed down onto Earth, and infected eleven scientists and one of our riders. They turned into what we'd call zombies. One escaped, and infected a few people. In the course of twenty-four hours, the infected go through a course where they turn into a zombie. The few turned into the many, the many turned into a herd of thousands. Our original plan had to be canceled, but we have a new plan!" the riders below started to get interested and were murmuring.

"Our original plan was setting up two forcefield generators and creating a barrier around Los Angeles and then launching a NK-1000, one of the most powerful weapons on this planet. Unfortunately, the first generator was destroyed, with the second having no use. To improvise, we'll find an area in Los Angeles where the zombies are strongest. To that point, we will set a 15-mile radius mark around the area where we will then launch a nuke and slay them. You will hunt any stragglers or survivors," Riku Kagami finished then stepped off for Draco.

"Today...today...at the edge of our hope, at the end of our time, we have chosen not only to believe in ourselves, but in each other. Today there's not a man nor woman in here that shall stand alone. Not today. Today we face the monsters that are at our door and bring the fight to them! Today we are canceling the apocalypse!" Draco announced, and all of the riders below cheered.

"If we are going to stop them, we're gonna stop them now!" all the riders got up, and they started to head out into clock up ports.

* * *

**ZECT Main Facility Clock-Up Ports**

"I never really got to know how these worked," a rider said.

"Never actually been in one, or used it, or however you say it," another rider shrugged.

"You never went on one of these? We use these to transport us on missions across the globe," a third said, showing confusion in the two.

"Well, it's kinda like a portal. While we're at the port, the managers activate the railings. The railings are systems to like give us a jumpstart for about a short while. We enter the portal via Clock-Up, and the railings just kinda push us and we fly away. It's kinda like Hyper Clock-Up," a fourth said.

"Ha, like when you're fast, you still needa go faster," the first one said.

"Amazing how you two are part of Unicorn Team and you never went into one of these. Your team has all the missions for themselves," the third grumbled.

Most riders are put into teams, where the most powerful riders are leaders who handpick their subordinates and comrades themselves. There are 6 teams in all, with Unicorn and Dragon teams the strongest, with Lion, Bat, Griffin, and Scorpion as the others. The original riders who fought the worms don't have teams, with the exception of Sasword, who leads Scorpion team.

"I never understood why Mr. Kagami had to put riders in teams anyway, we work just fine individually," said one of the Unicorn members.

"Draco doesn't like it when we don't get hard missions sometimes," a Dragon member said.

"Speaking of which, where is he…" a rider asked.

"He's on a shuttle with Faisal Dunkshovie, the Unicorn team leader," another explained.

Just then, Draco's voice was heard very loudly.

"_GO TO YOUR PORTS AND BLAST OFF, MEETING AT THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN."_

Soon, all the riders went into the ports and were off the facility. Unbeknownst to anyone, a rider based off a Japanese rhinoceros beetle was spying on the riders for the whole time. The rider shakes his head slightly.

"They're heading for a trap, they have no idea what's going to happen." The rider then escaped out of the facility and out of sight. The rider then looked at the Drake Grip, wondering who to give it to…

* * *

**Hollywood**

As the riders all approach the Hollywood sign, some zombies were lurking by, and they finished them off without any injuries. Just then, Draco and Faisal landed.

"Alright, the nuke's coming in a few hours later. Over the course of this time, while me and Faisal plan and prepare, I'm going to make a change for you guys. Route the zombies to Griffith Park, which is where the nuke is going to be launched. I'd rather have all than some," Draco said. "Do what you gotta do now, and let's finish the fight. Who's with me?" the riders chanted "Aye" in agreement. Just then, Sasword appeared with Alex, Bat, and Luchs.

"Took you long enough," Faisal grumbled.

"Everywhere on the streets are these zombies, you expect us to get here in a heartbeat?" Luchs said.

"Where's James?" Draco asked, James Perez was in his team.

"Out with Kaeru and Raptor, they'll be here a bit later," Sasword said.

"Why's a girl here? She has no clearance," Faisal said, staring at Alex with narrowed eyes.

"Enough with the clearance, she saved Sasword's life," Bat growled.

"I'm just gonna walk around near here a bit," Alex said. "I won't be long."

"Be careful, you got a gun?" Bat asked.

"Here, use this," Draco said, then tossed her a ZECT Kunai Gun.

"Thanks," Alex said, then went off. She walked into a clearing, where she started to look at the ruins of Los Angeles, she thought it was surprising to see the Hollywood Sign still intact. She sat down with the Kunai Gun on her lap, and started to think about the Special Forces. She missed her friends there, and started remembering her missions there. She also thought of that one day it was under attack by a criminal group. Debris was about to crush her, but a mysterious man in strange bug-like armor had saved her but ran off before she had the chance to say thanks. She looked up, and then saw several zombies headed towards her.

"Goddamn it, I was lost in my thoughts," Alex thought. She picked up her Kunai Gun but before she had the chance to fire, something very fast hit the zombies and after a few more hits, guts were on the floor. Alex recognized it immediately, a rider in clock-up.

"Um…Bruce? Tsurugi?" Alex asked.

"I'm not any of them," the rider said. His Zecter announced _"CLOCK OVER"_. Alex immediately recognized the rider.

"You're the one that saved me and the Special Forces!" Alex said. She walked over to the rider, but he stopped her.

"Don't try to thank me, it was merely a matter of looking for worms. Amongst the special forces there was a worm hiding, Benton Rackham. He was destroyed, fortunately," the rider explained.

"Why are you here? Are you helping Draco and Faisal?" Alex asked.

"I have nothing to do with them, I came to give you this," the rider said. The Drake Grip was in his hands.

"Why, why me?" Alex asked, with surprise in her mind.

"I see determination within you. Don't tell your superiors just yet, they'll figure out themselves," the rider said.

"Aren't you going to help them against the zombies?" Alex asked.

"Unbeknownst to them, zombies are already appearing in another place, Reno. I'm stopping the zombies there, good luck to you," the rider said.

"Um...thanks?" Alex asked uncertainly. But the rider was already walking away, with his hand near the Clock-Up pad.

"Wait! Who are you anyway?" Alex asked.

The rider glanced back at Alex, and then he said, "Walking the path of heaven, the man who'll rule everything." And he was not seen again.

* * *

**Hollywood Sign**

TheBee and the other two riders arrived at the Hollywood Sign, and the other riders greeted them.

"What's the story down there James?" Bat asked.

"They're routing them alright, but it'll take a bit longer than expected. Some zombies already made their way out of the city, and we thought it was better to eliminate them before they got away. So I told some others to go search for zombies out of the city…" TheBee said.

"A good move, I grant you that," Faisal said, playfully punching Draco.

"Hmm," Draco nodded slightly in agreement. Alex then walked back over.

"So, how was your little rest?" Sasword asked.

"It was good, I was just observing the city and thinking about stuff," Alex said, clearly leaving out the details of the rider who gave her the Drake Grip.

"Okay, well when the riders are done, and the nuke is about to drop, we should get you back to the facility," Bat said.

"Why? I kinda wanna stay here and help," Alex said.

"It's too dangerous for a non-rider, and I don't want to risk losing one so inexperienced," Sasword said.

"Alright fine," Alex said.

"I'll go with her," TheBee said, taking his Zecter off his brace.

"Ha, good. The lady needs an escort anyway," Draco said.

"We'll see you, once victory is assured," Raptor said. Kaeru nodded in agreement. James started to walk with Alex, and waved towards the group.

"So, you remember where you parked?" James asked Alex.

* * *

**A few hours later…**

"Zombies are routed sir," a rider said. "No reported casualties."

"Good. Alrighty guys! The nuke's in the air and we're going in!" Faisal said. The riders then clocked up towards a hill near the blast zone.

"Alright riders, visors up to see what goes on after the nuke," Draco said. "It'll be hard seeing through all that dust."

The plane with the nuke hovered several thousand feet above the zombies, and then dropped the nuke.

"Oh yeah, and watch out for incoming objects," Faisal said, then he got his Unicron Spear and put the Unicorn Zecter in the Zecter slot. _"HENSHIN!"_ The armor materialized onto him, turning him into Masked Rider Unicron. Draco then got his Dragon Staff out, and saw the Dragon Zecter flying towards him. Draco grabbed it, and put it on his staff. The Zecter announced "_HENSHIN!"_ and the armor materialized onto him as well, turning him into Masked Rider Drago.

"Riders, get into Masked Form," Drago commanded, about twenty-five Zecters announced _"PUT ON"_.

The nuke hit the surface, and a giant mushroom cloud rose up in the air, many zombie screeches were heard, and everyone cheered. Drago then viewed the dust through his visor along with some others, and they were shocked.

"Holy shit! Are you seeing this crap?" a rider asked.

"The fucking zombies are mutating!" another yelled in anger.

"No, this isn't supposed to be happening…" Faisal said.

The nuke had eradicated and vaporized some of the zombies, but the rest were mutating and started to show forms of more strength. Some grew spikes on their arms. More regular zombies also started marching behind them.

"Riders! We'll clock up down the hill then use Put On. Then we fight as hard as we can! Use your Rider Form only when necessary!" Drago shouted. The riders let out a cry and rushed down the hill.

Many riders then used their finishers and wiped out the first wave of zombies, but more were incoming. Draco then pressed the button "One" on his staff. The ends of the staff started to glow red.

Drago's Dragon Staff had a unique weapon system. There were four buttons with each one having a different function. 1 would power up the staff ends, 2 would enable one of the ends to fire a laser beam, 3 would release ZECT Mizer bombs that attack the enemy, and 4 would make the staff operate as a javelin, where one end of the staff grows a blade.

Drago swiped the head of a zombie, then started to throw punches and kicks to two others, Drago found it hard to deal some damage, as the mutated zombies' skin was now a rough armor-like skin. Drago roared and pressed 3, launching out Mizer Bombs on some of the zombies fighting other riders.

"Use the Mizer Bombs!" Drago yelled in the chaos. Some riders shot out the little bombs, while some zombies were heavily hit or destroyed, others were unfazed by the little critters. Over elsewhere, Unicron was swinging his spear wildly, decapitating some zombies and "injuring" others. Other riders were fighting valiantly, but Drago clearly knew the aftermath.

Drago then gathered a group of riders and the ones with fire-related weapons tried to keep the zombies at bay, but the mutant zombies seemed to not have the fear. Drago then pressed "2" and started firing lasers at the zombies, doing massive damage. The battle went on for 2 hours, and in the meantime, few riders were bitten by the mutant zombies. The bite of the mutant ones didn't turn their victims into mutants, but just regular zombies, although the zombie-turning process was alarmingly faster. Drago found himself pitting against Luchs, who was bitten and soon trying to infect Drago.

"So much for honor and skill!" Drago yelled as he sliced Luchs's head off and killed another zombie. Drago was getting tired, and he knew what he had to do.

"Dragon Team, retreat! I repeat, Dragon Team, retreat!" Most of his team and some Unicorn team riders clocked over to Drago.

"We gotta get outta here, where's Faisal? Where's the rest of them?" Drago said to the riders.

Unicron gathered the rest of the riders and they were soon surrounded on a large hill.

"Never give up! Fight until the end!" he yelled.

"Faisal! We gotta retreat!" Drago screamed.

"That is for fucking losers! Fight on!" Faisal retorted.

"You stupid piece of shit! We can't win this fight!" Drago walked up the hill, knocking zombies away. Unicron then pulled off his finishing move, _"RIDER SLASH_" and he swiped Drago back towards the other riders.

"I'm not leaving this fight," Unicron shouted. "You can retreat if you want you coward! But that's not stopping me!"

"You're fucking insane!" Drago shouted. "You'll die!"

"Then I will die fighting!" Unicron shouted, and then he rushed towards another zombie. Drago knew he couldn't convince anyone else, they were too focused on the battle and driven on revenge and blood and victory. Drago was in great pain from Unicron's move.

"Come on, we have to go," Drago groaned. Several of the Unicorn riders stuck a middle finger at Unicron.

"You fucking traitor!" one shouted.

They managed to make it back to the shuttle and the nuke carrier, but out of the thirty riders that went to the mission, only eighteen would make it back.

"What happened?" the nuke pilot asked.

"We lost, the impossible happened. Now get us outta here," Drago commanded. The nuke pilot agreed and started the plane. Drago was uncertain of the future, but all that mattered was the safety of the rest of the riders and getting back to report to Mr. Kagami. Drago felt like he lost hope. He felt like he failed his team and the rest of ZECT.

"What's going to happen now?" a rider asked.

"We gonna attack them back?" Raptor asked.

"I'm not sure what Mr. Kagami wants…" Drago said. Drago knew the zombies would be spreading across the United States, and soon the rest of the world.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Alex Walker is a character borrowed from iceangelmkx, credits to her and thanks for letting me use her.**

**Chapter 3 is a two-parter, but the next part is called 3.5. Originally it would move to Chapter 4, but 3.5 was created to bridge the gap between the two chapters and you will later see. **

**This is the longest chapter to date! Expect 3.5 soon!**

**Oh yeah, Pacific Rim anyone?**


	4. Chapter 4: Fate of Earth

**Prologue:**

_"RIDER KICK!"_ a Zecter announced as many zombies were dazed from the hyperspeed attacks of the Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle-based rider. The rider let out a shout and then did hyper-fast kicks on the zombies, destroying each one of them. As the dust cleared, the rider sighed.

"Reno's okay, for now," the rider said.

The rider had just recently learned of the riders' defeat in Los Angeles. The tragedy had encouraged the rest of the U.S. to quarantine themselves as best as they could. Much of California had already been populated by zombies, as their numbers rose by the thousands. The rider had helped created a wall between the borders of California and Nevada. Even so, the zombies were spreading.

"Hey Arashi, how is Reno?" a man asked.

"Clear, the zombies are cleared for now. They'll be back," the rider said. The rider had taken the alias Arashi Satuko to avoid suspicion and for safety reasons. Every new place he went to defend the world from the zombies, he took a new name, occasionally successfully.

"Good, we're gonna have to get a daily check on the Nevada Wall from now on, a zombie snuck through, but was killed before it got anywhere," the man said.

"I'm aware of the situation, thanks Mr. Clane," the rider said, he hung up the call.

"Hanging around in the States now huh," another rider said, the voice was familiar.

"Yaguruma," the rider said.

"Not just him," there was a third.

"Kageyama," the rider said.

"It's no use keeping an alias, we know who you are," Yaguruma said.

"I thought you two were dead already," the rider said.

"You had disappeared as well, Kabuto," Kageyama said, saying the rider's name in a dark voice.

"I knew some rider would find me. Instead of picking a fight with me, why don't you hunt down the zombies?" Kabuto asked.

"Funny story, old friend. We're never going back to the light again," Yaguruma said.

"Aniki's right, we are the darkness," Kageyama said.

"So be it then," Kabuto said. "I'm sure you're fully aware you cannot beat me."

Kageyama scoffed, and Yaguruma smirked. Kabuto heard the Hopper Zecters bouncing, and they soon made their ways towards their hands.

"Henshin," they both said, then stuck the Zecters into their slots. _"HENSHIN"_ the Zecters announced both at once as the rider armor formed around them. _"CHANGE KICKHOPPER" "CHANGE PUNCHHOPPER," _the Zecters announced. An ominous silence filled the air.

The Hoppers let out a battle cry then charged at Kabuto. Kabuto simply ducked through both of their punches, and then kicked KickHopper in the back. He then did a sweep on PunchHopper, who tripped and fell. KickHopper got up, and jumped at Kabuto. Kabuto grabbed him and swung him away, not before PunchHopper hit him with a punch right at the chest with Kabuto stumbling back.

"You're getting shabbier, Kabuto," PunchHopper sneered. In reply, Kabuto again tripped PunchHopper and landed a karate chop on his chest before he hit the ground.

"I return the favor," Kabuto mumbled. KickHopper was then running towards Kabuto, and Kabuto clocked up and elbowed KickHopper from behind.

"And I thought I was just getting shabby," Kabuto said. Both riders growled and hurled punches at Kabuto, but he caught both and kicked both in the stomach.

"Okay, no more mister nice guy," PunchHopper said.

"Let's go," KickHopper said. Their hands shifted towards the side of their belt, and they pressed the pads.

_"CLOCK UP"_ the zecters announced as the Hopper Riders began tossing Kabuto around. They finally kicked him off towards the wall of a local inn. But Kabuto looked unfazed.

"I thought your Zecters weren't designed to use clock up," Kabuto remarked.

"Save it, we had an upgrade," KickHopper said coldly.

"Shut up and fight," PunchHopper said, then rushed at Kabuto.

Kabuto sighed, and then he blocked some of PunchHopper's attacks, then got out his ZECT Kunai Gun, turned it into axe mode, and started to slash at him. KickHopper then kicked him in the knee, causing Kabuto to bend down, but Kabuto regained his composure and then blasted KickHopper several times with the Kunai Gun. Kabuto then activated clock-up and slashed at the two riders with his Kunai Gun in Kunai form.

"Why do you even try," Kabuto mused. PunchHopper growled, and then activated his _Rider Jump. _PunchHopper jumped high in the air, aiming a punch right at Kabuto's face. Kabuto then inputted the button sequence (3, 2, 1) and then switched the Kabuto Zecter's horn to its default position…

"Rider…Punch," Kabuto said, then he flipped the horn switch again, and the Kabuto Zecter announced _"RIDER PUNCH"_. The energy charge surged through the Zecter, to Kabuto's horn, and then to Kabuto's fist. PunchHopper continued to fly downward until Kabuto narrowly dodged the Hopper's attack, and hit PunchHopper in the stomach, making him fly backwards into KickHopper. PunchHopper groaned in pain as his armor deformed.

"Give it up," Kabuto said.

"And I thought your Zecter couldn't do a rider punch," KickHopper said, sounding interested.

"I also had a few upgrades," Kabuto admitted.

KickHopper then ran towards Kabuto, where they exchanged several punches and kicks until KickHopper made the wrong move with his foot, Kabuto took advantage of the mistake, and thrust his Kunai Gun towards KickHopper's throat.

"I win," Kabuto said, and then blasted KickHopper with the Kunai Gun. KickHopper crashed into some fences and then his armor deformed. He chuckled as he got up.

"Strong as ever, heaven-walker, you still have more yet to come," Yaguruma said.

"I'll be ready for it," Kabuto said. Yaguruma then picked Kageyama off the ground.

"What was the point of this?" Kabuto asked.

"Preparations for your little spat with the undead," Kageyama grunted.

"Hmmph, you provided me quite a challenge. But why'd you attack me?" Kabuto asked.

"I thought we were so-called friends," Yaguruma looked up.

"I don't think much of each other as friends," Kabuto said. "Don't give up the light, you haven't lost everything."

"I did when I lost the Zecter," Yaguruma said, referring to his past as Masked Rider TheBee.

"You both did, and you should've stayed in the light," Kabuto said.

Kageyama chuckled, "No use, no use."

"Yaguruma, you should make that tofu dish for me again. I hope you hadn't lost your cooking skill," Kabuto said.

"Maybe soon, maybe never," Yaguruma mused.

"Aniki, let's just go. See you around, Kabuto," Kageyama said, sneering at the word Kabuto. As they walked away, Kabuto sighed.

"I'll never understand those two," he said, and then he walked away as well.

* * *

**ZECT Main Facility**

"What the hell happened out there?" Mr. Kagami asked.

"We lost," Draco said miserably.

"Casualties?" Mr. Kagami pressed.

"12," Draco said miserably again.

"I'm going to ask you again, what happened out there?" Mr. Kagami asked.

"Your nuke didn't work for shit," Draco growled.

"How?" Mr. Kagami asked.

"Some of the zombies were instantly vaporized, the others were mutated. More zombies came from other directions, some we didn't even know of. We had a full check on the city, but those zombies came in from elsewhere," Draco said.

"And where is Faisal?" Mr. Kagami asked more.

"Dead, he went insane, attacked me, and forced the rest of the riders to help him," Draco growled.

"What of Team Unicorn?" Mr. Kagami asked.

"Half of them are still okay," Draco said.

"Good, because I'm placing James Perez as leader of Unicorn," Mr. Kagami finished.

"I lost men too Mr. Kagami, you're going to shorten my command as well?" Draco demanded.

"Team Unicorn has fewer men, and we need to even out the teams," Mr. Kagami replied.

"That means the other teams have more men," Draco growled.

"A necessary step, you're dismissed," Mr. Kagami yelled.

Draco sighed, but then stomped out of Mr. Kagami's office.

"I don't get what the hell that old man is thinking," Draco thought. He came over to James and Alex, who were chatting with several Unicorns and Dragons.

"James, you're dismissed from Team Dragon. From now on, you're in command of Team Unicorn, orders of Kagami," Draco said.

"Me? Really? That's surprising!" James said.

"This isn't a joke," Draco growled. "We don't have enough time to make jokes now."

"Well, I'll take the offer," James said, shrugging.

Draco then went off, going into his dorm. He heard several Unicorns approve of Kagami's order.

"Fuck this shit," Draco said to himself, then he fell asleep.

* * *

**Somewhere in the ZECT facility**

Alex felt Draco's pain. She was placed in a Special Forces squadron when she had almost none experience, she was later placed in her original role, but to her squad, it wasn't much of a bad idea.

When she heard of their loss at Los Angeles, she knew there wasn't going to be a happy ending. When she tried asking Draco, he flipped her off in anger.

"I'm just trying to be helpful!" Alex had said.

"Just go away," Draco had growled.

She never knew the reason why, but Faisal Dunkshovie had attacked him ferociously, as she heard from some riders. Alex had guessed the attack traumatized him, and he felt that he couldn't rely on anyone anymore.

"I feel bad for him," Alex had said to James. James had been a good friend to her, and she was beginning to like him.

Just then, a strong wind had blown her all the way to the courtyard. Alex looked around, wondering who would carry her all the way out here.

"Hey," a familiar voice said. It was Kabuto, but Alex didn't know it yet.

"Why are you here?" Alex asked harshly.

"How's the Drake Grip," Kabuto asked.

"I've never used it yet, if only you had been in the battle," Alex grumbled.

"I was busy," Kabuto mused. "Reno had zombies too."

"I forgot. But we lost," Alex growled.

"They already lost when that plan was orchestrated. If the force fields worked, it would've been even disastrous," Kabuto said, staying calm.

"How?" Alex asked.

"It all made sense. The radiation from the nuke had mutated the zombies, enhancing them. Some zombies were vaporized just because of too much radiation. If they had used the forcefields and the NK-1000, the zombies would have even more strength. They would've clawed right through the forcefield and most of the U.S. would've been infected by now. When I heard about Riku Kagami's plans, I knew he was a dumbass after all," Kabuto explained.

"So the zombies did us a small favor…" Alex realized.

"You'd be a fool thinking the zombies would help us. The chaos isn't their fault, it's the worms'," Kabuto said.

"They're the ones causing everything right?" Alex asked. Kabuto nodded.

"You were in America that time weren't you?" Kabuto asked.

"Yeah," Alex said.

"No wonder you never knew. The worm days were one of the darkest, I faced many troubles. Most of my friends already moved away to other places, even my sister moved with my friend Hiyori," Kabuto said.

"You feel like you're home now huh?" Alex asked, crossing her arms.

"Start helping out, use the Drake Zecter," Kabuto changed the subject.

"How do I know if it's ready for me," Alex asked.

"Hmmph, it's already flying above us," Kabuto said. "Just raise the damn grip already and call to the Zecter."

Alex felt anxious, but reluctantly, she raised the Drake Grip up in the air, where the Zecter soon placed itself on the top.

"Good, it has chosen you. Press the trigger," Kabuto mused.

Alex did, and the Drake Zecter announced _"HENSHIN"_ and armor started to form around Alex. It was one of the coolest things she had ever seen happen to her. Soon the armor had fully enveloped around her, and she looked at herself in a puddle. She looked amazing.

"Welcome to the riders," Kabuto mumbled.

"Um…thanks," Alex, now Masked Rider Drake said.

"Pull the lever on the back of the Zecter," Kabuto instructed. Alex did so, and the armor felt like it was about to fall out.

"This must be what it feels like to be in Rider Form," Alex thought. Knowing what to do, she said "Cast Off" and the armor flew off of her after she pressed the trigger.

_"CHANGE DRAGONFLY" _the Drake Zecter announced. Alex felt proud, knowing that she was a rider and that she could start helping out combat the zombies. But she also felt clumsy and big in the armor; she knew she couldn't fight just yet in it.

"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking you couldn't fight in that thing," Kabuto said.

"How'd you know?" Drake asked.

"Forget the questions; I'll be training you for a while now and then. In the abandoned park. You'll need to test your rider abilities. I was never a great teacher, but it's time to perfect the art of teaching," Kabuto said.

"Do you know how to do everything?" Drake asked.

"Work is as sticky as _natto_, I know this is gonna be a long journey," Kabuto said.

"Ha, are you going to show me how to clock up?" Drake asked.

Kabuto simply pointed to the pad on the belt, they both instinctively pressed the pad at the same time, and Kabuto started to speed away.

"This feels awesome, let's try it out!" Alex exclaimed, and then ran after Kabuto.

* * *

**5 Months Later**

Over the past 5 months, Alex had been secretly training with Kabuto so she could use the Drake Zecter's powers perfectly. During the time period, much of America was already overwhelmed by the zombies. The riders and ZECT were allying themselves with China and America to war with the zombies.

Alex had never revealed she was a rider to the rest of "her kind" yet, she felt that doing so would shame Daisuke Kazama. One time, Alex got depressed because she and James had a big argument. Alex didn't know what to do, so she disappeared and found Kabuto resting in the park.

"Kabuto…I don't know what to do. I don't know what's going to happen," Alex had cried.

All he had said was "If you wish for it, fate will always be your ally."

"You think this will turn out alright?" Alex asked.

"If you wish it to be so, luck will always be on your side," Kabuto said.

Surprisingly, she found herself liking Kabuto's Zen-like phrases; she felt she was having a teacher she never had before. Some things about Kabuto had troubled her, especially about why she never saw Kabuto in his human form. She had asked him, but he refused to do so. He had shown her his house one day, and while she was napping on a couch, he actually took his rider belt off and cooked a meal for the both of them. She found herself liking the rider a bit, but she still had some feelings for James. After that day, Kabuto never actually took off his Zecter.

"Angels descend during meals, therefore it is a sacred time," he had said.

Back to the present, he had stopped training her a few days ago, saying her training was complete, and he had other things to attend to. She decided to tell Riku Kagami of her training and her being Drake, and after he told Draco and Bruce, the three decided not to tell anyone.

She and James had not reconciliated after their argument two months ago, and she didn't feel like starting now. James was mainly focused on helping the Unicorn Rider Team get back on track, and Alex had been training with Kabuto. Her training was something she could never get from anyone else.

She decided to go to her dorm and take a rest.

* * *

**Riku Kagami's Office**

"We're staging a mass attack on the zombies. While we know nuclear weaponry will be obsolete, we'll use our maser cannons from the sky and the ground," Riku Kagami said.

He was sitting with Bruce Wayne, Draco Stark, and Tsurugi Kamishiro, discussing battle plans against the zombies.

"It's been a long time since we staged an attack on the zombies. They already went from a thousand to a couple hundred thousand," Bruce said, suddenly slouching.

"Over the time, they could've become more powerful as well, or gained new abilities to use against us," Draco said.

Draco was still very steamed over the loss of part of his team, but he got used to it and got over his trauma. Faisal Dunkshovie was history, he couldn't torment him anymore.

"Like what if they learn how to fly? Our air forces would be overwhelmed," Tsurugi pointed out.

"Our maser cannons are currently one of the most powerful artillery weapons on the planet. As I have learned from our good friend Kabuto, the radiation from our nuclear weaponry enhances them. Our maser cannons fire pure and deadly energy," Kagami rasped.

"Then maybe it's time to show who's dominant," Bruce said, slamming a fist on the table.

"We must take caution. We have learned a lot from the zombies, and we don't want any repeated mistakes," Kagami said.

"We'll learn not to make'em," Tsurugi said.

"That is a hard thing to do," Kagami replied.

"What if the cannons give the zombies even more energy?" Draco asked.

"Rest assured, we've captured zombies and tested that maser cannons are the best thing to use," Kagami said.

"If somehow it doesn't work, it's going to fall on us," Bruce said.

"What weaponry are the Chinese and the Americans using?" Tsurugi asked.

"Standard machine guns, basic army weaponry," Kagami said before Tsurugi finished.

"Well, that's fine," Draco said.

"On the other hand, not all zombies infect. Some just eat humans for food," Kagami said.

"So there's a slight chance some of America was just eaten?" Bruce asked.

"ZECT scientists conducted tests. Lab-produced human flesh was made, the scientists tested on 20 zombies. 12 zombies simply bit into the flesh, the other 8 devoured it," Kagami explained.

"So some go for infection, others for food," Tsurugi said, counting his fingers.

"Right, and how will this information help us in the battle?" Draco asked, crossing his arms.

"I don't think it will, but it is good to know," Bruce said.

"When will we take action?" Tsurugi asked.

"Tomorrow right when the sun rises. We'll be at the battlefield before, but once the sun rises, we fire and charge," Kagami said.

"What will the riders do?" Draco asked.

"I'm afraid during this assault they'll be the reserves, we can't risk any more riders in combat with the zombies," Kagami said, staring at Draco.

"There's a chance that the riders that were 'left behind' in the battle of Los Angeles were infected and would be roaming around with the zombies as well as trying to disable the maser cannons and infect our forces," Bruce said, showing the group a screen of the last few moments of the battle, including Faisal attacking Draco and the group being surrounded.

It gave Draco the creeps, he never wanted to know what happened to them, and he was curious about why Faisal attacked him, or on top of that, went insane.

"Good point, I'll change the battle plan, having the riders simply DEFEND the maser cannons, nothing more. Standard ZECTroopers are going to be using machine-blade guns and flamethrowers," Kagami said.

"Understood," the three riders said.

* * *

**Unknown Area**

Faisal Dunkshovie was alive.

How? He never knew, but the only thing he knew was that his rider belt was gone. He couldn't call to the Unicorn Zecter to retrieve his belt, the Zecter was out of his control as well.

For five months, he hid underground. He found survival gear, as well as some weaponry and armor. He had been fending for himself.

He wasn't even in the battle.

Before the battle began, he remembered getting his rider belt from the camp room. Then he got knocked out. Before he went unconscious, a man looking strangely like him took his rider belt and left. The last thing he knew was that his body was dragged off into somewhere in the city.

He was lucky he was immune to the zombies' bites. They had already bit him twice, for a long time nothing happened, and the wounds healed.

As he walked towards his run-down TV, he sat on a broken couch. He knew on the news what his imposter did. He attacked his comrade, Draco and rallied as many riders as he could to their deaths. His imposter killed those riders.

Faisal immediately knew who the imposter was during that time, it was a worm impersonating him. And worms were immune to the zombies.

"Why are the worms still here?" he had thought.

Faisal was lucky he had found a rider belt and even the Zecter had responded to him. Faisal wasn't the proud leader of Team Unicorn anymore, just a rogue rider living underground away from his comrades, who think he is a traitor. He felt happy the Zecter chosen him.

It was the Leopard Zecter. He immediately knew that Sylvester Lynns had fallen in combat, probably by the imposter. Faisal was the 2nd Masked Rider Leopardo.

He didn't like the idea of being Faisal Dunkshovie anymore, as the imposter had made evil of him. He cut his hair and he became almost bald, which would've been a good look on him, if it weren't for all the dirt and the beard.

He felt bad for the loss of respect, Sylvester had been a good team member, a very good friend, and Faisal felt shamed for inheriting the Zecter.

"If only I'd been more careful…" Faisal thought.

Faisal could only think what would happen now, but as he listened closely, he heard a ship in the sky.

* * *

**Aboard ZECT Aircraft**

"Where are the cruisers? Sun is rising in a few minutes," Kagami asked over the phone.

"They're almost at the right locations," Draco said.

"Los Angeles cruiser, in position," a pilot on Draco's ship grumbled.

"Oregon-Washington cruiser, in position," another said.

"Nevada-Idaho-Utah cruiser, in position," a third said.

Each cruiser was soon in position, with transport ships carrying the trucks and soldiers.

Draco felt that the world didn't have much time, ZECT was launching their largest mass attack ever with the rest of the world defenseless. All their main forces were in America. Only the New England states were safe. A giant forcefield network was built protecting the very few states remaining. Draco didn't feel very confident, as in the last battle they lost heavily when winning was a great chance. Draco felt that ZECT was going to fail. But he was in no place to object to his superiors, and he just hoped for the best.

"The sun is rising…" Draco said to himself.

"Cheer up dude, we're going to win," Bruce said.

"I dunno, Bruce. Last time we all thought that, and we lost. I have a feeling that the world's in store for more surprises, bad surprises," Draco said softly.

"If we can't protect the Earth the zombies can be damn sure we'll avenge it," Bruce growled. "The riders, us, are Earth's hope. If we can't defend humanity's hope, then what can we do?"

Draco didn't answer, and Bruce walked away.

Draco had a dream, a vision depicting humanity's fate. It showed the upcoming battle, and the humans had lost. A voice had said, "Humanity deserves this fate. Your forces will vanquish, the world will slowly crumble, until humanity cease to exist. It doesn't matter how long it takes, the world will fall!"

For once, Draco had seemed to lose hope, but he couldn't show this lack of confidence towards ZECT. He had to try.

"We're going in," Draco said, and then he went down towards the teleporter where he landed on a maser cannon truck. About 200 trucks and dozens of ZECTrooper squadrons were having their guns ready. The rest of the battalions would be in position.

"Sun's rising on our side, attack is commencing," a rider said on the comlink.

"Firing at will," another rider shouted.

"The sun will be rising, Draco," Bruce said. They both took out their Zecters. Draco stuck it on his staff, Bruce inserted it on his utility belt. They became Masked Rider Drago and Bat respectively. Bat got out some batarangs, Drago pressed "2" on his staff.

"Let's roll," Drago said reluctantly. The sun then rose, the ZECTroopers yelled "Victory", the trucks accelerated forward, and the zombies then ran slowly towards the ZECT forces.

The trucks then fired their cannons. The zombies had managed to form ranks, but the front line of zombies vaporized. Riku Kagami was right, the maser cannons worked. But there were countless zombies behind them. Drago fired at zombies in the head with his staff, with Bat throwing batarangs at their heads and exploding or frying them next to him.

"Watch out!" Bat shouted as two zombies leapt at Drago, with hands aimed at his head, but a spray of bullets had blown their heads off. Drago and Bat looked behind, it was Drake.

"Alex! I thought we told you to stay out of this!" Bat exclaimed.

"Can't keep a good soldier down," Alex retorted, who fired at more zombies.

Drago didn't mind, but he was worried about her being infected.

"Stay close to the two of us," Drago said.

"Gotcha," Alex said.

The maser cannons had almost decimated the zombies at Los Angeles, and they were covering good distance. In the air were several fighters that also fired at the zombies. Drago wondered how things were going at the other places.

Suddenly, he saw some weird looking zombies far away, like they had new features of some sort. Behind them he also saw some giant ones, and Drago was trying to figure out how that happened.

"Fighters, take out the giants in the back," Drago commanded. The fighters flew overhead and fired at the giants, but the maser cannons did no apparent damage, and rocks flew right out of the giants' hands, destroying the fighters. "How the fuck did the zombies turn giant? Did they evolve?" Bat asked.

"I don't know but we have to keep fighting!" Drago shouted, he suddenly had an adrenaline rush, and he felt more confident all of a sudden. More giants appeared as the basic zombies were nearly vanquished.

"The zombies are darn smart, they know formations and shit," Drake said, who fired several "Rider Shooting" bolts at a giant, one stumbled and fell on another.

"The maser cannons are doing less damage on the big guys, and the weird ones are rampaging, it looks like they have varied special powers," Drago said.

Drago was right, some blasted rocks like giants, others acidic slime, and another one took his bone out and knocked a ZECTrooper unconscious.

Two trucks exploded beside them, and another in front of them. More ZECTroopers fell beneath the zombies and what was left of them were pieces of fabric, helmet, and flesh. Still, the battle went on with maser cannons firing and zombies rushing.

"It seems hopeless," Alex said, as three more trucks exploded. "We should fall back, the other forces aren't doing much better."

"We need to keep fighting. We can't give up!" Bat growled, as he threw a small grenade at some zombies. Another fighter exploded above them, the three riders shielded themselves from debris.

"Come on!" Drago said, he jumped on a giant's neck, then pressed "4" and slashed at its neck. The giant groaned and went down. The maser cannon operators followed his example and started aiming the cannons at the giants' necks, they went down after a few hits, and Los Angeles was clear. The ZECT forces cheered

"Hey! Now's not the time to cheer in victory, we have plenty of distance left!" Bat announced, and the ZECTroopers marched along with the trucks towards another location.

Just as they were walking out of Los Angeles, a series of distress calls were heard.

"We're being defeated at Michigan!" a voice shouted.

"ZECT Trucks being trampled at Phoenix!" another cried.

"Giant zombies destroying the carriers, we need immediate backup!" a third screamed.

"We're getting pounded, what are we gonna do?" Bat asked.

"I have a plan. ZECT can no longer fight the zombies, but we can still survive for another day. A carrier with the trucks will go and fight on, trying to stop the assault. Meanwhile, the rest of us go back to main base, and we will try to defend the rest of the world," Drago said.

"All our forces are in America," Drake said.

"Many riders are probably infected or killed," Bat said.

"We gotta evacuate, hide, wait for some miracle," Drago said.

"We're giving up? What kind of warrior gives up?" Bat asked.

"We don't have a fucking choice, unless you wanna turn into a zombie and make us kill you," Drago growled.

"We, will, fight," Bat growled murderously.

"You're like Faisal, nothing held back, you wanna become like him?" Drago asked.

"No, I just…." Bat lowered his voice, but there was darkness in it.

"A noble warrior would know what to do, and as a noble rider, I suggest we retreat. There's nothing we can do," Drago said.

"Fine, but we need to help Mr. Kagami," Bat said.

"Finally you fucking understand what the fuck's happening. The zombies are probably already out of the U.S. In time, they'll go to the rest of the world, and Earth is doomed to despair. ZECT will survive, if we retreat," Drago said.

"How about the riders?" Drake asked.

"Even we can't do anything. The zombies track our Clock Up movements, there are too many zombies even if we're powerful enough to take down a hundred giants," Drago growled.

"Enough riders are dead, we can't risk anymore riders gone," Drake remarked.

"Enough are infected," Bat said.

"You're right," Drago replied.

"Which means they have the means to find us right now," Drake stammered.

"Good thing the carrier had left," Bat sighed.

Just then the three riders were hit by a series of fast slashes, they were brought down to the ground. Five infected riders appeared out of nowhere.

"Infected," Drake said, getting up.

"We gotta fight them," Drago growled, pressing "1" on his staff. Bat activated his arm blades.

The three charged. Drago took two on with his staff. He knocked one in the head with a butt of his staff, but another dodged his slash, Drago found himself going on the defensive when a rider had gotten out two pincer-like weapons and started to swipe at him.

_"A crab rider…it must've been Pincer," _Drago thought. Pincer raised both blades and brought them down, but Drago had rolled out of the way. Drago hit him in the back with his staff, then blasted him with his "2" laser, but Pincer kept walking like nothing happened.

In the meantime, Bat snapped a zombie's neck, making it dance around. He threw an exploding batarang at one, but the zombie only stepped back a few feet. The zombie whose neck he had snapped then bit his armor, and Bat grunted and ripped the rider zombie's head off.

Drake repeatedly blasted the zombie rider with bullets, but the rider's tough turtle shell was in the way.

"Come on you fucking turtle!" Drake shouted. The two riders ran toward a clearing and they started to clash, exchanging punches and kicks. The zombie repeatedly tried to bite her, but Drake's training with Kabuto had taught her a lot of methods to dodge the zombie bites. Drake folded up the Drake Zecter's wings into its scope mode, and targeted the zombie. Drake pulled the throttle, beginning the power charge. Once the charge was complete, Drake pulled the trigger, and shot a giant energy ball at the zombie, but before the ball hit its target, Drake clocked up. He did pulled the throttle and shot at the zombie 10 more times. The zombie rider was nothing but dust.

Bat and Drago defeated their opponents as well, and rushed over to Drake.

"Kabuto taught you well," Bat said.

"But we must go," Drago said.

The three riders then ran off to the nearest air station. They found a plane and flew back to ZECT…

* * *

**2 Years Later, Underground Los Angeles **

ZECT had lost, and much of the world was overtaken. The only continents left uninfected were Australia and Asia, but Faisal knew soon, that those places would be gone. Many cities that still thrived quarantined themselves very strictly, with many rules and defenses to help drive out zombies. Everyone knew that the war was lost, and what was left of humanity had to survive. Faisal knew that few riders were alive, among the ones who showed their faces on television, he recognized Drake, TheBee, Bat, Drago, and a few others.

It was literally on the headlines. "Earth Doomed To Fall From Zombie Apocalypse! The Danger Is Real". Faisal survived and thrived underground miraculously for a long time, but was almost killed by a zombie rider who managed to get past all of his booby traps. It was Kabuto that had saved him, but now he had left.

Kabuto trained him extensively, helping him with strategies and tactics he had never heard of. Kabuto had also helped him get rid of his fear of heights and let him get used to the surface again. But then, Kabuto never showed his identity, he seemed to always keep the rider armor on him.

"Must be a phobia of some sort," Faisal had thought.

After a short bout with some stray zombie rider, Kabuto had suddenly left. When he got back underground, Kabuto had left a letter saying "the one who walks the path of heaven goes elsewhere".

Faisal walked out back the makeshift door he made to the surface, and looked outside at the ruins of Los Angeles. He pulled out a cigarette and smoked it.

"There might be zombies everywhere, but it's good to enjoy the moment," Faisal said.

He had secretly hoped that somewhere out there, someone would save humanity.

* * *

**A/N: **

**The Hunger Games/ Batman Story has been postponed and it will be released next year. Stay tuned?**

**Sorry for the late release of the next chapter, some personal issues came up. I'll have it released a bit later along with the first chapter of the Caped Crusader Trilogy.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Tower Raid

**A/N: **

**I apologize for the late release, some issues came up as well as planning for other stories. I'd like to say that the release dates for each chapter would be extended due to the release of Batman: The Beginning and Pokemon: Battle of Legends- Red VS Ash.**

**Anyways, enjoy as always!**

* * *

**Prologue:**

The world had fallen to the zombies. The war against them was lost. Earth's forces had found no way to combat the zombies. The zombies constantly changed. Many stayed in their basic forms, some turned giant, and others were mutated from radiation from nukes, causing each one of the radiated to have a special ability.

Faisal Dunkshovie had survived underground for 3 years. He was trained by the greatest Masked Rider, and was taught to fend for himself. He learned to kill the giants with ease, and many other strategies to kill other zombies with a single strike. His great trainer had left, but one day, he went back to Faisal, and invited him to go to Hong Kong. Faisal was eager to go, as Kabuto was selected by the government to defend them. Kabuto also got a job as the boss of a teahouse. Faisal was Kabuto's assistant in the teahouse. At rare cases, the two riders had to go fend off zombies. The forces at Hong Kong were a force to be reckoned with.

Faisal learned of Kabuto's identity as well, as he could no longer stay in the rider form during his job at the teahouse. Faisal learned his name was _Tendou Souji_, but was nicknamed Tendon by most of the other workers and Faisal himself.

Tendou had decided to retire, as he felt like the rider job was useless, and he didn't touch his rider belt for a very long time, much less glance at it. It was Faisal's duty to keep the peace, something he did very well.

For a city in peril, Hong Kong was doing remarkably well. Most of the citizens had no fear of being attacked or invade. Hong Kong's defense systems were so advanced, zombies were almost no danger.

Faisal stood by the new Basco Wall that was built to surround the city. The wall was surrounded by a forcefield as well, just because the city was afraid of a mass invasion, and everyone had already known of the zombies' great strength. The forcefields were programmed to incinerate anyone who went through the forcefield, but occasionally, some lucky zombie would crawl through whole and Hong Kong's defenses would kick in and destroy the zombie.

Faisal pulled out a cigarette, and looked out beyond for trouble…

* * *

**Underground Shibuya**

The remnants of ZECT went to the underground bunkers after the zombies managed to invade Asia, and soon, Japan. For a while, they did well, until the zombies stumbled onto the underground paths, and destroyed ten of the bunkers. Only eight were left, and much of ZECT's staff had died in the last fight.

It was Christmas Day. Alex Walker was patrolling the bunker borders along with James Perez. It was a hard life down underground. No time for presents, or hanging up a tree, or decorating. It was war time every day. ZECT had changed for the worse, and everyday seemed to have a death in the underground.

She and James had reconciliated, but things were still a bit tense around them. A day in the underground was almost the same. Wake up, eat, debrief, patrol or do work, eat, continue work, eat, sleep. It was already three years; the routine was already too remembered. She would fight zombies daily, but she was tired.

Draco and Bruce were still alive, but Sasword wanted to travel, and nobody could stop him. Everyone trusted that he would remain save. He had told her he would find help from elsewhere.

Recently, one of ZECT's supplier buildings located in Osaka had been captured by rogue riders struggling to survive. The zombies later destroyed Osaka, having most of the supply building surrounded by zombies. The rest of the supply buildings had not responded to their recent calls, and ZECT was running low on supplies. A dangerous mission to recover the supplies was considered, but it would've meant sending all the riders to fetch them and risk infection. The ZECT officials had been talking about it for days, and Alex didn't know what they would do. But she knew.

She walked inside the main bunker, where Draco, Bruce, a couple riders and several other ZECT officials were discussing the mission with Riku Kagami. They were still arguing on whether the mission is initiated or not.

"If we go in that building we risk losing everyone," a ZECT official said.

"Would you rather starve to death or live?" a rider asked.

"You guys will be eliminated, and we won't be able to survive anyway!" another ZECT official.

"You can't change what we riders do and can't do!" another rider said.

"Stop this!" Alex yelled, barging in.

"And what is a minor rider doing in this bunker?" a ZECT official asked, narrowing his eyes.

"You can't control the riders' destinies, we do what we choose. You gave us the power, and we had to know what to use the power for. I got my powers, and I chose to help humanity. The riders are supposed to help humanity, defend Earth, and keep the peace. You may have sent some riders to defend the quarantined cities, but how much longer can we last without supplies. Your suppliers are not responding, you're not willing to fetch them yourselves. Why do you fear the zombies? You are being dominated by them! You have to show that YOU are dominant. Why have the humans been the dominate species for so long?"

"We took action in things," a ZECT official mumbled.

"We did what had to be done," a rider stammered.

"Then why not take action now? ZECT may have trained us for this role, or our supporters have encouraged us, but now, training is nothing! The will to act is everything! If we don't want to die out and let the zombies kill everyone, we have to act. We survived this long, and we won't go out this. We will get the supplies, so we can fight for another day," Alex announced.

The officials then shifted amongst themselves uncomfortably, talking about what they should do, but Riku Kagami wearily stood up.

"I agree with Ms. Walker. We must take action ourselves or risk dying out."

"I agree as well," Draco said. Alex gave him a surprised look.

"We have to do this, I will organize the mission immediately," Bruce announced.

And at that very moment, Alex knew that the battle would soon commence.

* * *

**Battle Bunker, Underground**

"Our supply building is a 50-floor skyscraper, basically speaking, a factory," Bruce said.

"Getting into the building would be extremely dangerous. A battalion number worth of zombies are in that territory. Going there would be suicide," a ZECT official said.

"It would, but not if we take a different route," Bruce said, pressing a series of codes on the holographic screen.

"An 'underground railroad' will be used. A 50-year old route was formerly used by smugglers to transport goods or anything else, our scanners detect that the zombies have not reached the tunnel, nor had it been in use for 30 years. I believe that the tunnel leads to a hidden entry on the 9th floor, as there is an unused but intact lift in another hidden door that would lead to one of the high floors, close enough to the supplies," Draco explained.

"But our supplies are located on the top floors, it'll take a hell of a time and a long time just to get up there. The zombies are everywhere inside that building," a ZECT official pointed out.

"I did a full scan of inside that building by sending one of our scout drones, most of the zombies are on the lower floors and some of the staircases to the top floors are destroyed, the elevator doesn't operate, and most of the supplies are intact," Bruce said, showing the officials and the riders data on the building.

"We are to infiltrate the building in four squads. One squad attracts the zombies from the left wing to another place, another would attract the zombies from the right wing to elsewhere. The two other squads will eradicate whatever is in their way, get the supplies, get more help from the last squads and escape," Draco explained.

"You riders are on your own, the ZECTroopers stay and guard everything else," the ZECTrooper general, Fujiyama Yuri, announced.

"That is fine, we wouldn't want a mass battle. This is a stealth mission," Bruce said.

"What about the zombies outside? Once we draw them out, the rest will come in!" Alex asked, pointing to the picture of zombies outside the building.

"We have been setting up traps near the building recently, we'll activate them once we get to the scene," Draco responded.

"Should we use clock up?" a rider asked.

"Try not to approach the zombies during clock up. They may see us, but they can't chase us," Bruce replied.

"Got it," the rider said.

"When do we leave?" another rider asked.

"Tomorrow at dawn," Bruce said.

"Until then, rest up, do whatever you need to do, and then the heist will start," Riku Kagami said, and then he walked out.

* * *

**Alex's Dorm**

Alex went back to her room after her little speech and the battle plan. Her speech had inspired the scared ZECT members to finally take action. She felt satisfied, and she looked at her Drake Grip, which was held once by one of the first few riders, Daisuke Kazama. Kazama was one of the "worm fighters" and had fought alongside Alex's mentor, Kabuto. To this day, Alex had never known his identity.

Alex heard a knock on the door, it was James.

"Um…hey," Alex said.

"I liked your speech back there," he said.

"Eh, it wasn't all that inspiring," Alex admitted.

"Enough to change my mind to go attack if I were one of them," James laughed.

"Oh, you think?" Alex asked, laughing as well.

"Hey, you wanna hear this joke I heard when I was in prison?" James asked.

"You were in prison?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I used to be a…bad kid," James shrugged. "Just hear it."

"In prison: You spend the majority of your time in an 8x10 cell.

At work: You spend most of your time in a 6x8 cubicle.

In prison: You get three meals a day.

At work: You get a break for 1 meal and you have to pay for it.

In prison: You get time off for good behavior.

At work: You get rewarded for good behavior with more work.

In prison: A guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.

At work: You must carry around a security card and unlock and open all

the doors yourself.

In prison: You can watch TV and play games.

At work: You get fired for watching TV and playing games.

In prison: You get your own toilet.

At work: You have to share.

In prison: They allow your family and friends to visit.

At work: You cannot even speak to your family and friends.

In prison: All expenses are paid by taxpayers with no work required.

At work: You get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they

deduct taxes from you salary to pay for prisoners.

In prison: You spend most of your life looking through bars from

inside wanting to get out.

At work: You spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside

bars.

In prison: There are wardens who are often sadistic.

At work: They are called supervisors.

In prison: You have unlimited time to read e-mail jokes.

At work: You get fired if you get caught."

Alex laughed very hard.

"It's just like at ZECT for god's sake! Hey, I have one too," Alex said. She cleared her throat.

"A father came in the bedroom to find his 13-year-old daughter smoking a cigarette. "My God! How long have you been smoking?" screams the father. "Since I lost my virginity," replies the girl. "You lost your VIRGINITY! When the hell did this happen?" shrieks the father. "I don't remember," says the girl. "I was completely drunk."

"Oh my god, that's also pretty funny," James said between laughs.

"Oh, you think?" Alex asked. "Just look at your joke!"

"Oh no, your joke is bigger," James said.

"Nah, your joke was like funny as hell," Alex said.

"You should get some rest, the heist would be beginning in a few hours," James said, standing up and turning to leave.

"I think I should," Alex said. She then fell asleep on her bunk, just before James decided to walk back in to give her a small kiss. He quickly left afterward, feeling more nervous than ever.

* * *

**Battle Bunker **

"Okay! Alright ladies! We're about to start, we all head to the abandoned tunnel at 6'o clock sharp!" Draco announced. The rider slowly awoke and began to start getting in ZECT uniforms and waiting near the doors.

"Draco, lead the way," Bruce said, transforming into Masked Rider Bat. The rest of the riders did the same.

"Oh shit," Draco said, transforming into Masked Rider Drago. He then led the riders out of the doors.

"We're going to have to touch a bit of surface, ladies," Drago snickered. The riders went out of the thick titanium doors, and walked out. The air was reeking of corpses and zombies. What was once a bustling city, was now a wicked wasteland. The meteor with the first worms that had fell all those years ago, had already taken a portion of the city, making it uninhabitable. Now, the rest of Shibuya might as well be radioactive.

"Just, uuunguh! Right in here," Drago grunted after lifting the heavy doors that led to the underground tunnel.

It was a large tunnel, about 30-ft tall, it stretched very deep into the ground. The doors consisted of 7 layers of titanium, 3 inches long each. Even a giant zombie, or ten or a hundred of them wouldn't be able to get inside the doors. Even so, no zombie would've ventured down towards the tunnels or have detected it.

The riders went through a series of turns until they reached a wall. There were many tiles on the wall with various pictures on the tiles.

"It's a dead end," a rider said.

"No, it's a door," Drago said. As there were 16 panels on a 4X4 layout, Drago pushed the panels in an X formation, and the door opened. The door here was just as thick as the tunnel entrance.

"We are at a hidden smuggler hideout, looks like it hasn't been in use for a while," Drago said. There were provisions and weapons, but most of them were dusty and the weapons were from the late 1900s.

"There's a hidden door on the right here. Once we get out, Alpha and Bravo squads rush out by clock up, draw the zombies away from the top floors. Charlie and Delta squads will rush up the stairs and get the supplies as fast as they could, smuggle them, get out back into the lift same room, and go into the tunnel and wind up back at ZECT. I hope you remember where the entrance is, because the tunnel can go several ways," Drago said. Bruce stepped up.

"Alright, stay close; don't get separated until at least the 30th floor, then we will get the supplies. Supplies under that floor are not to be touched, too risky, zombies everywhere."

Even Alex added in something. "Alright mates, we need to make this thing quick. I don't want any zombies on our trail after we escape."

A rider simply called "The Big Guy" said, "Better not destroy that tunnel, if you can. It is our only way out!"

"We ready or what!?" Drago shouted. The riders responded "READY!"

* * *

**Alpha Squad **

The Alpha riders rushed towards the lower floors of the building, aiming to prevent any zombie from climbing any further up. Any surviving human would've thought that they were attacking the zombies. But they were not. Instead, the riders would cause a distraction where the zombies would start following the riders, as when the zombies are provoked, they go after their target until it is too far or it is missing or it is destroyed. Meanwhile, the Bravo riders would drive the zombies outside the building away from the riders inside.

Drake was part of Alpha Squad, as Drago thought that riders with long ranged weaponry would be perfect to drive away the zombies. Drake led the squad, and while they ran down the stairway, Drake glimpsed at the window. Already there were several explosions going on outside.

As Drake and her squad stepped down the 16th floor, there were already signs of zombies. There were few, but if you had fought them without experience, you would've already been eaten in a few zombies bites. Drake shot a zombie in the head, and it went down.

"I'd suggest picking off the small groups first," Drake said. The rest of the riders nodded in agreement. As a dozen zombies saw their fallen "comrade", the twelve rushed towards the riders, but they were shot down almost immediately.

"Conserve your ammo!" a rider said.

"Not really necessary, most of our weapons have unlimited ammo," Drake explained.

Many long-ranged weapons made for the riders had unlimited ammo. Drake's weapon had infinite rounds and the Kunai Guns, which were held by most of the squad right now, only used energy bolts instead of bullets. There were few weapons that had limited ammo, like Tarantel's (Tarantula-based rider) web crossbow or Salamandra's (Salamander-based rider) flame blaster.

Alex's squad shot their way down 6 floors until the zombies got larger in number. The numbers went from a dozen to thirty.

"Should we clock up?" Tarantel, one of the leaders asked.

"Let's go, try going around the zombies," Drake suggested.

The riders then clocked up and started to round up the zombies, who started to follow the riders. The zombies could follow their clock-up movements, which made it perfect to divert them from the "supply" riders.

The only bad thing was; the riders could still be hit or bitten.

Two riders were already stopped in their tracks as some zombies jumped them. Still, Alpha Squad had moved on.

"Keep together!" Drake yelled.

The riders soon approached the 9th floor, which was teeming with zombies.

"I need this floor clear!" The Big Guy said. The riders proceeded to shoot the rest of the zombies, making the floor clear

The zombies followed them all the way to the 6th floor, where even more zombies were at.

"Time to take out the trash!" a rider yelled in a gruff voice. The rider then fired a large energy ball from his weapon, literally called "The Garbage Truck". The "Truck" had enough energy to disintegrate, vaporize, or incinerate a hundred targets, depending on which mode the Truck was in.

The energy ball destroyed most of the zombies, but unfortunately, the staircase was cracking from the energy. Drake cursed, and decided to contact Bat.

"Hey, Bat! The staircase on the 6th floor is too unstable, is there another way to go back to ZECT? We can't approach the lift or the tunnel," Drake said.

"I can't find another way out besides the main doors and the tunnel. Try finding another intact staircase on the other side of your floor later on, you should be able to find your way to the lift. From my map, I see the other staircase on the 6th floor able to use," Bat said.

"Good, I'll send some riders to secure the area there," Drake said.

The call was cut. "Hey you five! I need you guys to find the other staircase on this floor and secure it! It's our only other way out!"

The riders rushed over there.

"Hey Big Guy! We need to finish off the rest of them, and then we'll meet the others on top!" Drake yelled.

Big Guy gave her a simple nod, and he blasted another large group with his bazooka.

"Try to not hit the staircases!" Drake yelled again.

"I know what the hell I'm doing, girl!" Big Guy retorted. Drake stayed silent.

As she approached the 2nd floor, Drake got a good image of Bravo Squad. They were being chased by too many zombies…

* * *

**Delta Squad**

"Get those supplies!" a rider shouted.

"Keep moving!" another yelled.

"Pack it on the lift! One at a time!" a third rider instructed.

Bat ensured the riders that the lift was beyond its time after being discovered by some of the workers which had settled in the building before and that it would be able to carry about 30 tons per lift.

Bat went into his "detective mode" with his visors, and saw that the Beta Squad riders were being chased, and the Alpha Squad members defended the staircase on the 6th floor pretty well.

"How is it down there?" a rider asked.

"Going smoothly, let's get the rest of the supplies down! Only what would be needed!" Bat yelled.

The Charlie Squad riders were on a higher floor; that was where most of the weaponry and equipment were, those riders would transport them to Floor 27 with the only intact elevator. Floor 27 was where the lift would go down to Floor 9. Ironically, the elevator stopped working at the 27th floor.

While the supplies were gathered, Bruce and some other riders fixed the elevator to start working, but the cables and the elevator would start to fall once it went lower than 27.

There were several zombies that would linger on the high floors, but they were all handled with care and finished off. Most of the staircases were intact surprisingly, something that Bat had made a mistake on.

"Sir! There's a problem with some of the boxes," a rider said to Bat.

"Well, let's have a look," Bat said, amused.

As the rider led Bat to the boxes, there were timer bombs on them.

"Some rogue rider must've snuck up here before us and knew of our plans…" Bat speculated.

"Yes, that's what I did," the rider said. The rider, called Rybamech (Swordfish-based rider) slashed Bat with his twin arm blades. Bat grunted as he landed on the floor.

"Why…? Why are you doing this?" Bat stammered.

"Ha ha ha, ZECT is doomed anyway. So why try supplying them with all this shit? The world's bound to fall, and we can't even stop them all in one building!" Rybamech sneered.

"You don't know that," Bat rasped.

"Look at your Bravo Squad, they're being chased down like dogs, look at your alpha squad, they don't even know what to do! And look at ZECT; we're living underground like we're prisoners in a pit! I've decided that nature takes its course. I'd say let the zombies take over, because how much longer can humanity survive? Why hide underground when there's no hope?" Rybamech asked.

"We hide to fight another day. Stop this madness at once," Bat rasped again, this time in a darker voice.

"**TRY AND STOP ME BITCH!**" Rybamech yelled. The traitor rider let out a battle cry, and Bat roared as they charged at each other…

* * *

"I'm going to help them," said Drake as she pointed to the Bravo Squad riders.

"Then I'm going to, but are you sure the rest of them can secure that staircase?" Big Guy asked.

"I'm positive, Big Guy, we gotta help them," Drake pulled at Big Guy's arm and they both ran.

Meanwhile, the Bravo riders were still getting chased by their adversaries, and as Alex observed; the riders would eventually be surrounded.

"Hey Big Guy, use the Garbage Truck on that one area," Alex said, pointing to a clearing with a horde of zombies.

"I'll contact Drago, so he can tell the others to avoid that area," Big Guy said, and then he started telling Drago.

"Once the dust clears, go through that opening!" instructed Big Guy.

Big Guy then aimed the Garbage Truck on the clearing, and set the mode to "vaporize".

"Mahalo motherfucker," Big Guy muttered as he pulled the trigger. About a hundred zombies who were in the area were instantly vaporized as the energy ball hit.

"**YES!**" yelled Big Guy as he pumped a fist in the air.

"GO GO GO!" Drake yelled to the Bravo riders as they zoomed away towards Drake and the Big Guy.

"Hey, you know, after running miles after miles in a giant-ass circle, our legs tend to start falling off?" Drago asked.

"Hahah, well you got the help, now let's just finish them off and get back to base," Drake replied.

"Good, I'm pretty sure if something is going on with the other squads, they're gonna need some big help," Big Guy said.

* * *

Bat was busy defending himself from Rybamech's attacks, and as their battle raged on, the zombies had heard them and clumsily, but eventually, started trying to attack the riders.

"You cannot win!" Rybamech shouted as his blades clanged with Bat's arm spikes.

As Rybamech had his two blades locked with Bat's gauntlets, Bat kicked him in the stomach and roundhouse kicked him in the face. Rybamech stumbled back, but then he whirled around and swung his blades, but Bat jumped over the strike and kicked the traitor in the back of the head.

"You're outmatched, give it up," Bat growled.

"I'll never submit to you," Rybamech screeched. The rider then ran at Bat again, who had dodged his attack and got into a defensive stance.

Rybamech brought his blades up and brought them down with brute force, with Bat rolling away just in time for him to get out his grapple gun. Bat shot it at him, intending to grapple him over, but Rybamech simply swatted the grappling hook and jabbed Bat with both blades, causing him to fly back into a box.

Bat jumped back up and elbowed Rybamech, making him stumble back. Bat then punched him in the face and grabbed his head with both arms and head-butted him. As Rybamech screeched in pain, Bat did a "Scorpion-style" backflip kick and sent Rybamech flying towards another box. As Rybamech scrambled back up, Bat threw a batarang at him, bringing him back down.

"Stop this, and there will be no further death," Bat grumbled.

"NO!" Rybamech shouted as his two arm blades launched out of his gauntlets. One missed Bat narrowly, but the second had impaled itself into Bat's armor…

"AGGGHH!" Bat shouted as he felt the pain of the blades.

Rybamech then ran towards Bat, grabbed the blade out of Bat, and slashed him in the face. Bat fell down two floors, and rolled in pain.

"It's time to end this mission and let ZECT rot away into the dark," Rybamech said.

"**NO!"** Bat yelled. He felt his energy rise and soon ran at full speed towards the traitor, ignoring his stomach wound.

Bat did a bicycle kick on the traitor, and then threw a smoke pill at him, blinding and confusing him. Bat then launched out a missile from one of the underground missile turrets, and made it target Rybamech. Bat got out his shock gloves, and started to electrocute the rider. Bat gave the traitor a knee to the jaw, and then threw a mini-bomb at him. As the missile approached, Bat back-flipped while the missile hit Rybamech, turning him back into his human form.

"You shouldn't have turned your back on us," Bat said, slightly groaning from Rybamech's stab.

As Bat walked over to Rybamech, he punched him in the face.

"GIVE ME THE DETONATOR!" Bat growled.

"Oh heh-heh, you mean this detonator?" Rybamech asked, and then he pressed the button. The bombs started to count down.

"YOU SCUMBAG! YOU BITCH! YOU'VE DOOMED US!" Bat growled, and then he knocked a grinning Rybamech unconscious. Bat ran over to the bombs, there were exactly 7 minutes left.

"Everyone out! There are some bombs on a few boxes! Everyone evacuate!" Bat yelled. The riders finished battling the zombies and they started to carry the boxes into the lift. Fortunately, most of the supplies were inside the tunnel.

"What's going on?" Drake asked as she got up the stairs.

"Rybamech planted bombs on some of the bombs, I ordered an evac," Bat rasped angrily.

"What kind of bombs?" Drago asked.

"I don't know, it's not ZECT tech. When all of these explode it has enough strength to take down the entire building," Bat said.

Drake then felt a chill in her spine. _"I hope James makes it out with the rest of them."_

"Then what the hell are you waiting for?" the Big Guy asked.

The four riders then ran to the lift. They went down, and snapped the chains so nobody else could go to the lift. But as they were about to approach the metal doors, they heard a large noise, and the whole building shook.

"What the hell was that…?" Drake stammered.

"A giant," the Big Guy grumbled, getting his bazooka ready.

"It's larger than most!" Drago yelled.

"Jump!" Bat yelled. They all jumped as the giant zombie swatted his hand across the building. What was left of the area was nothing but debris and a hole leading down to several floors.

"Oh shit," Drago growled. The rider then pressed 4 on his staff, and threw it right at the giant's neck, the giant sniffed from the pain and Drago landed on the giant. Drago then took the staff back up, pressed 1 and jabbed downward, but the giant felt nothing and swatted Drago into the metal doors, knocking him unconscious as well as making a huge Drago-shaped figure on the doors.

"So much for indestructible walls," Drake said.

Drake then charged up and fired a "_Rider Shooting"_at the giant zombie, but it barely affected the zombie as it brought its fists up and brought them back down. The three riders rolled away just before the area where they were standing at was complete gone.

The Big Guy then fired at the giant with the Garbage Truck, but even that only made the giant stumble. Big Guy fired it three more times, and the giant fell. Bat then tossed several exploding batarangs at the giant, bringing it down once more.

"A missile should buy us a lot of time," Drake said.

"That would risk destroying the building along with us," Bat countered.

"How much time on the bombs?" Big Guy asked.

"Less than 2 minutes, but I have a plan," Bat said.

Bat then tapped the side of his belt. His Zecter then announced "_CLOCK UP!"_ and in less than a few seconds, Rybamech's bombs were on the 9th floor.

"But wouldn't that mean…?" Drake asked.

"Correct, the blast will destroy the zombie and the underground tunnel, we can escape now!" Bat yelled.

"LOOK OUT!" Big Guy yelled. The zombie then swatted the three riders into the wall, a stray bomb box went haywire and exploded right at their feet, and Drake flew high up in the air and landed with a thud. Big Guy and Bat flew towards the doors.

"Shit…" Drake grumbled as she got up.

The zombie then saw the rest of the bombs, and saw interest in them.

"Oh mother of god no! He's going to detonate those bombs!" Big Guy yelled.

"INTO THE DOOR!" Bat yelled. The zombie's hand was nearer towards the bombs each second, and the bombs only had a few seconds left…

Bat grabbed the unconscious Drago and started running towards the doors.

"CLOSE THEM!" Bat yelled to Drake. Drake nodded and shut them.

"How much time!?" Drake asked.

"15 seconds!" Bat yelled. The three riders then activated Clock Up and started to run. They soon heard the bomb go off, and heard a loud moan as the giant lost its life. The flames of the bomb were so intense, it burned through the tunnel doors and started to fill the tunnel in flames. The scorch started to reach the riders.

"I have a plan!" Drake yelled as she pulled the lever on her Drake Zecter.

_"RIDER SHOOTING!" _the Zecter yelled.

"My energy balls should buy us some time, but I need Drago's staff!" Drake yelled.

Bat quickly gave her the staff, and Drake pressed 2. She then pulled the trigger on the Drake Zecter and pressed the button on the Dragon Staff. The Dragon Staff's laser beam and Drake's Energy Ball collided with each other and created a giant blue ray that started to counter the deadly flames.

"Come on!" Bat yelled.

"No! If I stop now we're dead anyway!" Drake yelled. But suddenly, she was shoved aside as her energy beam stopped. Drake thought that the riders were doomed for good, but something else held the flames at bay. It was the Garbage Truck using it's superlaser form.

"Big Guy!" Drake yelled.

"Go! You need to survive!" Big Guy yelled.

"I'm not leaving!" Drake replied, but Bat and Drago were already heading down the remainder of the tunnel.

"You need to find Kabuto! He's the key to solving everything!" Big Guy yelled.

"Kabuto!?" Drake asked.

"You'll find out! Right now, you have to go!" Big Guy yelled.

Drake then found herself in a trap. She knew Big Guy couldn't handle the flames much longer, and Kabuto would trust no one but her right now…

"Fine, but what do I do!?" Drake asked.

"Deliver this to him, he'll know what to do," Big Guy said, handing a letter to Drake.

"Okay," Drake said in tears.

"Go…" Big Guy said in a broken voice.

Drake then used Clock Up and raced out of the scene. She then heard an explosion as she finally reached the exit. She rolled out, breathing hard on her knees as she heard the Big Guy perish in the flames.

Drago soon awoke, and Bat helped him on his feet. Drago limped towards Drake, and looked at the tunnel.

Suddenly, the three riders heard something make a large clang! And out of the flames came the Big Guy's Garbage Truck. As far as the riders could tell, the weapon was very much intact.

"This is what's left of our Hulk…" Drago said sadly.

"Which is why we must honor him for his bravery," Bat rasped.

"And carry on his task," Drake said. "He told me to find Kabuto, saying that he was the key to stopping everything."

"Open the letter, and we'll see," Bat suggested.

"I don't think we should. If it was meant for my mentor, then it is something only he should see…" Drake replied.

"Good point. It has been a rough day, the other riders are waiting for us," Drago said.

As Bat helped Drago walk down the path towards the riders, Drake glanced at the charred tunnel doors, and The Big Guy's Garbage Truck. She walked up to the weapon, and hoisted it on her back and followed the other two riders.

* * *

**Days Later… Underground Bunkers**

The three riders told Riku Kagami of their story. Most of the riders made it back with no injuries, although several were infected and rumored to have perished in the explosion of the supply tower. They also told of the Big Guy's death.

"This is indeed a sad loss, Braddock Steel has served us for many years," Riku Kagami said.

"He was a good friend…" Bruce said.

"And he saved us," Alex added.

"Nevertheless, we will continue our race for survival, and we will eventually carry out the task Braddock has assigned us," Riku pressed.

"Then let us hold a moment of silence for our fallen comrade," Draco said.

"I agree," James said, he had appeared in the room minutes after Alex. James smiled at Alex, Alex held his hand tight.

Just a second into their moment of silence, a ZECTrooper came rushing through the room.

"COMMANDER COMMANDER! IT'S THE VORPAL! THE VORPAL HAS RETURNED!" the trooper yelled in excitement.

"What!?" Riku asked in shock.

The four riders, the trooper, and Riku Kagami ran outside, sure enough, the stunning image of the Vorpal was seen in the sky.

Years ago, Masked Rider Gatack and a few riders went on Mars for a mission to find alien life. Now that they returned, Riku Kagami thought that his son would've found something, and that the Vorpal's crew would be equally surprised of what had happened in the time that had passed.

Alex had never felt happier, she hugged James as he smiled at the sky.

"It's here, help is here," James said.

"Now all we have to do is find Kabuto," Alex said.

But first, we have to send out some riders to pick them up," Bruce said, beckoning Draco.

While Alex and James held each other, and Bruce and Draco headed into the other bunkers to share the news and gather a search party. Riku Kagami simply looked up at the sky.

"Help is here…"


End file.
